Still Breathing
by IShipKlaroline2598
Summary: Caroline liked being a vampire. The life-altering change had shaped her in ways she couldn't even imagine, and she had loved the new her. But when she woke up in the back of Katherine's car two weeks after her high school graduation, she knew that the life she had grown to love would never be the same again. (Rewrite of my story Begin Again.)
1. Chapter One: Begin Again

**SUMMARY: Caroline liked being a vampire. The life-altering change had shaped her in ways she couldn't even imagine, and she had loved the new her. But when she woke up in the back of Katherine's car two weeks after her high school graduation, she knew that that life she had grown to love would never be the same again. (Rewrite of my story Begin Again.)**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, or any of the spin offs. I'm simply using the world and its characters to create a version of events that I think is entertaining.**

 **A/N: Oh My God! It is here. I repeat. It is here. I am finally uploading the first chapter of Still Breathing. For people who are probably confused by that start, this story was originally titled 'Begin Again'. It was an unfinished story that I didn't really know how to finish. I ended up deciding to completely reoutline, rewrite, and repost the story. And I have to say, I'm really happy with how the story has gone this time around.**

 **Any who, here is the first chapter. It would mean a lot if you could leave a review and let me know what you think, especially if you're someone who has read the first, unfinished, version of this story.**

CHAPTER ONE:

' _I watched it begin again.'_

 _Begin Again by Taylor Swift._

CAROLINE P.O.V.

Every muscle in my body ached. A constant wave of pain running through me. That was the first thing that I noticed when I woke up. The second thing I noticed was that I was moving. Well, not necessarily me, but the ground beneath me.

I let out a small involuntary gram and slowly opened my eyes. The light was blinding as my eyes cracked open and I quickly shut them again, trying to ignore the pain that shot through my head. I shifted my body and pushed myself up into a sitting position. Nausea pulsated through my stomach as I sat up.

Trying to regain my balance in what I could now tell was a car, I held my hand to my face and shielded my eyes from the sun as I forced them to open again. This time the light didn't seem as bright, and I could finally see where I was.

I looked around the large car that I was seated in, looking at the backseat where I was sitting. I didn't recognise the car. I hadn't been in an SVU like this one before. I looked towards where the driver would be, not being able to see them because of the black screen that separated the front and back seat.

I looked down at myself, noticing that instead of the dress I had worn to graduation, I was wearing a pair of tracksuit pants and a sweater. I dropped my hand from my face, my eyes having adjusted to the brightness of the warm day, and stared out the window in an attempt to get a grasp of where I was and where I was going.

I shuffled closer to the window looking outside to see if there was anything there that I could recognise. But there was nothing that could tell me where I was and who exactly I was with.

I jumped at the mechanical hum of the black screen lowering. Fear shot through me as I saw the familiar curly-haired brunette that sat behind the wheel in the driver's seat. Katherine.

She was wearing her usual black leather jacket and skinny jeans, with her hair handing loosely over her shoulders. She was facing forward, keeping her focus solely on the road as the screen barrier lowered between the two of us.

I didn't speak, afraid of what would come out of my mouth if I spoke to her. The faint sound of some foreign band came from the stereo, and I tried to get a look at what I could see in the front seat.

The car looked brand new, sparkling more than my bathroom after I went through one of my cleaning binges. The faint 'new car' sell reached my nose as I looked to the passenger seat. There, resting on the seat, was my large bubble gum pink duffel bag.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. How are you feeling?" Katherine said, still not turning to look at me.

"Katherine, why am I here? What did you do?" I asked, my voice cracking from dryness. How long had I been asleep? Why was I with Katherine? The last thing that I remembered was saying goodbye to Klaus and heading towards my car after the other side being down.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking." She muttered, looking over her shoulder at me.

"What the hell is going on, Katherine?"

She didn't reply as she flicked on the indicator and pulled up onto the side of the highway. She turned the key in the ignition, killing the engine, and shifted in her seat to look at me. Looking her up and down, trying to figure out if I could overpower her long enough in this situation and run for it. I figured she would have me back in the car within a matter of seconds with her increased strength due to her age.

"Look, Blondie, I'm doing you a favour. It's a long story and we've got a long drive until we reach out final destination. I'll tell you everything you want to know, but you're gonna have to sit up from and listen. Without interrupting me. Because I'm not in the mood to repeat myself, got it?"

I nodded, slightly confused, and opened the door to climb out.

The minute my feet hit the ground pain shot through my legs and they gave out under my weight. Katherine was at my side in a flash, holding me up and helping me onto the front seat, chucking my duffel bag over onto the back seat.

"What's wrong with me?" I moaned out, trying to calm the ache in my muscles.

Katherine shut the door, racing back around to the driver's side. She didn't answer me until we were back on the road, heading in an unknown direction. "I don't really know why your muscles ache so much, but I can tell you what happened."

"Then tell me."

"What exactly do you remember from the night of your graduation?" Her tone was guarded, not giving away anything.

"Well, I remember graduating, obviously. I remember the barriers being broken down and being attacked by Kol and the witches. Klaus came and helped up. The last thing I remember is saying goodbye to Klaus and heading back to my car."

Katherine let out a small sigh, wiggling in her seat and flipping her hair over her shoulders. I watched silently as she thought about what she was going to do next, seeing the thoughts tick through her brain.

"Okay," She said, keeping her eyes trained on the road ahead. "I can fill in the blanks of what _I_ know. I was fighting with Elena in the school. I was angry that Quetsiah wouldn't grant me immortality, and even angrier over Elijah dumping me because of what Elena had said. I was going to kill her, not gonna lie, and I would have done if you hadn't intervened. You pulled me off of Elena just before I could rip out her heart…and just before Elena could shove the cure down my throat."

I tried to remember what she way telling me, straining against the blur in my mind, by everything remained blank. No matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't remember any of this happening.

"That doesn't explain what happened t-" I cut myself off, Katherine's words finally sinking in.

' _Just before Elena could shove the cure down my throat.'_

Elena was going to use the cure on Katherine. I had pulled Katherine off of Elena before she could do it. My hand covered my mouth as I gasped out a choked 'no'.

Katherine looked at me from the corner of her eye and then back to the road, her arms and back tensing.

Everything I had been feeling since I woke up in the car suddenly made sense. The fact that I couldn't hear anything outside of the car, or even the quiet music _within_ the car. The muscle aches were probably because my body was readjusting to the lack of 'super strength'. And now that I thought about it, the usual burn that sat in the back of my throat, the tell-tale sign of my bloodlust, was gone. I was human.

"I'm sorry that it happened to you. I know you didn't want the cure."

"My being cured doesn't explain how I got in your car." I shot back, ignoring her useless apology. "What happened after Elena shoved the cure down my throat?"

Well, you passed out. So did Elena. I had had my hand buried in her chest when you pulled me off, and the strain knocked her out. Then I went over to you, realised what Elena did, then took you home." She paused, taking a deep breathe. "Your mum freaked out when I took you home. She thought I was Elena and invited me in, I put you on the bed, explained what happened, then left. A few days later your mum came to the house I was staying in, I hadn't left town yet because I wanted to see what happened, and she told me that you still weren't awake. I don't know what she expected me to know, but she ended up telling your friends you went on a spur-of-the-moment holiday, when really you've been unconscious for the past two weeks."

Two weeks. Two whole weeks. It was like I had been thrown under water. Everything swam around me as my brain fought to take everything in.

I was human again. And whatever the cure did had caused me to be unconscious for two weeks. And for some reason my mum trusted Katherine over my friends.

"Why did my mum go to you instead of Elena and my friends? She had no reason to trust you?" A thought hit me and my head snapped to the side to stare wide-eyed at Katherine. Pain show through my neck, but I tried my best to ignore it. "Did you compel my mum?"

Katherine scoffed at me, her lip curling. "No, I didn't compel the good sheriff. I don't really know why she trusted me. I guess she noticed that I was in some way grateful for you pulling me out of the way. That, and she appealed to my curiosity over the cure."

I nodded softly, not sure whether I could trust her word or not. As soon as I was near a phone I would be double checking with my mum just to make sure.

I settled into the soft car seat and watched as the trees went by. The tension in my muscles easily slightly as I tried to relax. I watched the scenery move outside the window for a while before I even realised that Katherine hadn't mentioned where it was that we were headed. I looked around for any sign or landmark that would tell me where we were going, but there seemed to be nothing around. We could have been anywhere. I didn't know how long we'd been driving, and I didn't even know which direction we had started on.

I turned in the side, moving to face Katherine as much as I could while buckled into the car. I opened my mouth ready to shoot another round of questions her way, but was cut off before I could even say one word.

"We're heading to see a very powerful witch that I know. We've been on the road for 5 hours, and we have 9 left until we reach where we're headed. So, I recommend you sit back and relax. If you reach back for your duffel bag, your mum put in a couple of books she thought you might enjoy. Or, you could go back to sleep and I'll wake you up when we get there."

"Where is 'there', exactly?" My voice was quiet, afraid of all of the places outside of Mystic Falls that we could be going. I'd never been outside of Virginia, even my dad had remained when he had moved in with Steven. And now I didn't even know when I'd be going back home.

"A place that is renowned for having some of the most powerful witches in the world. It also happens to be a sort of…hub for supernatural creatures. Which happens to be both a blessing and cure for us. On one hand, we should blend right in. On the other hand, it's ruled by a pseudo 'king' that has a weird obsession with you."

Chills ran up my spine. I knew exactly where we were going. I only knew of one person who would ever dare call himself 'king', and he was living in New Orleans.

#

I ended up falling asleep after an hour of reading The Great Gatsby, one of the books my mum had packed for me. I only woke up when Katherine shook my shoulder and told me we had arrived.

I groaned and stretched, trying to ease some of the aches that seemed to have settled in my body, knocking the book off of my lap and onto the car floor. I jumped at the noise and hesitantly opened my eyes. I looked around at the darkness around us, my eyes landing on the house that sat before us in the glow of the car lights. I wondered how long I had slept this time

Unlike anything I had seen in real life, the house was three floors high and something that Scarlett would probably adore. A plantation house. Not uncommon in New Orleans. I wished that I still had my enhanced sight so that I could take in all of the details at once.

I looked down at the dashboard clock and saw that I had slept for far longer than I thought, considering it was now the middle of the night.

Katherine was fixing her makeup in the rear-view mirror when I managed to tear my eyes away from the clock. She looked more nervous now than I had ever seen and a wave of panic settled in the pit of my stomach.

Was this where Klaus was living? I highly doubted she had enough guts to drive straight to Klaus' doorstep, so if it wasn't him, who was it?

"Who lives here?" I asked, watching her face closely, trying to gage what sort of reaction she would give. "Is this Klaus' house?"

Katherine grimaced at me as she adjusted her shirt and hair. No Klaus then. She stared at me out of the corner of her eyes, pushing her door open and landing on the ground with a dull thud. She gave a deep, heavy, sigh.

Her eyes were hesitant as she looked up at the house, the fearful look in her eyes making my panic rise to an almost breaking point. She didn't reply to my question, just continued to stare up at the house with dread in her eyes.

"Katherine!" I snapped out, trying to keep my voice relatively quiet, not wanting whoever was in the house to hear me. "Where the hell have you taken me?"

Another shuddering sigh rolled through her body as she brushed her fingers gently through her curly hair. "The person who lives here is likely to react just as bad as Klaus would to my arrival. But, she's our only option for now."

Katherine flashed to my side of the car and pulled the door open with so much force that it let out a grating groan. I stayed seated, her words not making me any calmer. She gave me an indignant look, her head tilted to the side with one perfect brow raised.

"Seriously, Caroline. Did you really think I'd drag you all the way out here if I thought you were going to be killed?"

"Yes."

"She won't hurt you. I hope. But me, that's debatable."

I reluctantly pulled myself from the car, wincing at the pain that shot up my sore legs, and picked the book up from the ground and placed it on the seat.

"Like that's going to make me feel better." I muttered to myself.

I followed Katherine along the long driveway, all the way to the stairs at the front of the house, staying as close as I could without tripping us both up in the dark. She walked slowly up the steps, taking them one at a time, the closer we got the slower she'd walk. She didn't speak again, and I followed suite. I didn't want to be attacked by whoever it was we were here to see.

Katherine came to a stop in front of a massive set of ornate doors, staring up at them. Or more precisely, staring at the cord that hung next to the door. What I could easily guess was an old fashioned doorbell. She didn't make a move to pull it.

The cold night seemed to seep into my skin as time ticked by without Katherine doing anything. I rolled my eyes. Katherine could stand in front of Klaus, teasing and taunting him, but she was afraid of the person she had decided we would seek help from? It didn't make any sense at all.

I reached past Katherine, grasping for the cord in the almost pitch black, and yanked on it. The sound was haunting as it rippled through the dark, sending chills across my skin. It rang only for a few seconds before silence filled the night once again.

Katherine shot me a withering stare over her shoulder and took a step in front of me, shielding me from whoever it was that would answer the door. Seconds later Katherine tensed, someone was coming.

I watched as Katherine shook her hair behind her shoulders and pulled on a calm look of disinterest just as the door was pulled open.

An involuntary gasp left my body as I took in the woman in the doorway. Tall lean body, rich olive skin, straight brown (almost black) hair, and facial features that were unmistakable. If I hadn't already seen the extent of how identical Katherine and Elena were, I would have thought that this woman was another doppelgänger. But, she was close enough in likeness, without being an exact duplicate.

Her button nose was a mirror image of the one Katherine wore. The shape of her eyes and the bone structure was just as similar. The one thing that she didn't have in common with Katherine was that she had a pair of piercing green eyes. Eyes that were looking down at Katherine with anger and dismay.

The mystery look-a-like continued to stare at Katherine, as if she couldn't fathom how or why Katherine would be there. Even with her cocky mask in place, Katherine still stood too afraid to speak.

A moment later the green stare moved from Katherine to me, she raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow as she looked me up and down.

"What an interesting choice in a travelling companion, Katerina. I never would have pegged you for someone who would bring your meals along with you."

Her heavily accented voice made my stomach drop and I flinched at the implication behind her words. She assumed that because I'm human, that I'm some sort of _meal_. Katherine seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and she placed a hand on her hip as she flipped her hair over one shoulder.

"I'm not some meals on wheels you know." I said softly, not realising I had actually said it out loud until they both turned to face me.

I coughed slightly, trying to cover up my words. Katherine turned back around and shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Katerina. In the middle of the night. Without any sort of warning." She sighed, leaning casually against the door and peered directly into Katherine's eyes.

"I didn't want to risk the chance of you running away and not being here when I turned up, Nadia." Katherine looked unsure of herself. Her voice taking on the same accent as the woman, Nadia. My theory of this woman being Katherine's sister seemed to solidify.

"You were afraid of _me_ running off?" Her hands flew up in aggravation. "Last time I checked it was you who always does the running away, not me."

"Nadia, if you just let me explain-"

"There's nothing to explain." Red and blue veins began to appear beneath Nadia's eyes. The white of them turning the colour of blood as she opened her mouth and hissed violently. "I found you after 500 years. You were frightened and ran for it. I got on with my immortal life. The. End."

"Well, I'm here now. Doesn't that count for something?"

"You can't just change your mind when you wish to. Not when it's just so you can get something that you want. Which is why you're here in the dead of night, I'm assuming."

Katherine took a deep unsettled breath and clenched her hands tightly. "Why can't I have just decided to come and visit? Why do you assume that I want something from you?"

"I am not a stupid woman. You want something from me. Probably somewhere to say so that Klaus doesn't rip your heart out." Nadia snarled at Katherine and took a small step forward. "I will not risk my life for you, not when it's blatantly clear that you would not do the same for me. So, why don't you and your little friend here turn around and go back to where you came from."

Katherine's shoulders slumped and defeat flashed across her face before she could pull her cool mask back into place.

"Nadia, I understand that my actions when we first met each other probably weren't the best. But, I've had time to think over everything and I would like to get to know you." I listened to Katherine closely but watched Nadia over her shoulders. She wasn't impressed. "You have to understand my shock at having you show up after all this time with me thinking you were dead."

"I understand that you were shocked, but you didn't have to be so harsh about it. I spent the last 500 years looking for you. I _turned_ myself into a vampire so that I could find you. And you brushed me aside like I was nothing. And now, just because you want my help, you think I'm okay with you trying to…cosy up to me?"

Katherine furrowed her brows, raising one of her arms and taking half a step forward, opening her mouth in what I could tell would only resort in a more furious argument.

"Look, Nadia. This is bigger than-"

"Okay, excuse me." I said, pushing past Katherine and holding my hand out to Nadia. She stared down her nose at me curiously. "My name is Caroline Forbes, I'm a…well, for lack of a better term, I'm a friend of Katherine's."

"Nadia Petrova." She took my hand and gripped it tight. "It's nice to meet you Miss Forbes, and I thank you for interrupting Katerina. But, I don't care what either of you want, I'm not getting involved."

"Look, I don't know what happened between you and Katherine. And to be perfectly honest, it really isn't any of my business. However, she thought that coming here was a good idea, and I'm not going to argue with that. So, instead of having all of our time wasted, it would mean a lot if you could just hear her out and if you still don't care we'll climb back in that car and exit your life. Because I am tired, I am sore, and I don't really have any other options at the moment."

I took a deep breath in, feeling the air make its way painfully through my chest and down into my lungs. I had either just majorly pissed her off, or she would see the desperation in my eyes and let us explain. Well, let Katherine explain.

Nadia turned towards the open door and called out in a foreign language. Moments later a tall curvaceous black girl appeared behind her. She stood around the same height as Nadia, looking no older than 17, but somehow seeming to hold more age than all of us combined. Her tight white curls were pulled back by a large bandana, and her dark skin contrasted with the tribal-patterned colourful mishmash that was her dress. When I met her eyes they shone a brilliant honey gold. Not a supernatural gold, like Klaus, but a natural shade that appeared to swirl behind her eyelids.

She looked to Nadia, tilting her head to the side and waiting for some further instruction. Then she spoke in a thick accent like Nadia's. Nadia gave her a sharp nod, muttering quietly in the same language before stepping back into the house.

"You may both come inside." She said, her English coming out strained and broken.

Katherine didn't wait before she pushed past both me and the girl, heading straight into the house. I rolled my eyes, thanking the girl before following Katherine and Nadia through the entrance.

I gasped at how beautiful the inside of the house way. The ceiling hung high above our heads, with a glorious iron chandelier lit only by actual wax candles. I wondered how anyone could possibly reach up that high to light the candles, but quickly dismissed the thought as I remembered that I lived a life surrounded by vampires and witches.

I looked further into the room, my eyes resting on the staircase that stretched high up onto the second floor, and a portrait that hung on the wall at the top. It was a wall-sized painting of Nadia standing with a man. They were both dressed in clothes that were clearly from the 1920's, Nadia wearing a short flapper dress, with the man in a black suit. Nadia was standing behind him with her hand on his shoulder. Her husband maybe?

Katherine called out to me, catching my attention, and making me realise that I had been standing blankly in the middle of the room while she and Nadia had reached a door at the back of the room. I quickly caught up with them, walking into a small sitting room and coming to sit on a rickety-looking couch across from Nadia.

I looked Katherine up and down as she sat close to me, her body angled between me and Nadia. As if Nadia would have let us in if it hadn't been for me. While Nadia walked over to a small cabinet and poured us each a glass of whiskey.

They glared across at each other, neither of them speaking. I rolled my eyes and leant back against the kind of soft cushion of the chair, making myself comfortable while I waited for their silent conversation to be over.

"So…what are you two doing in New Orleans?" Nadia asked after five minutes of us sitting in a complete silence. "The real story."

Katherine cleared her throat and shifted her bum on the seat, looking around the room trying to figure out what to say. "Caroline was in a slight accident a couple of weeks ago. Her mother and I thought that a witch here might be able to help her."

Nadia let out a rough laugh, tapping her nails on the edge of the whiskey glass that rested on her knee. "I'm going to need more information than that. I'm not letting you stay here if this witch is some minion of Klaus' that you need to steal, or if you plan on burning the city down to the ground to get what you want. I don't want any involvement in that."

Katherine looked over her shoulder at me, as if to ask me permission for her to tell Nadia what happened. I shrugged my shoulders, too tired to care who knew that I had been cured. She pushed herself up straighter in the chair, her eyes running over the length of the room before landing back on Nadia. "It's rather a long story, Nadia. Complicated."

"I have plenty of time."

"Caroline was cured of Vampirism."

Nadia's eyes flew to me, shock filling them. She stood up from her chair, drinking the remnants of her drink and then refilling it to the brim. She took a large gulp from that and then turned back to Katherine. "Is this some kind of sick joke? A cure is impossible."

"It's true." Mine and Katherine's voice's came out at the same time. Mine defensive, hers disinterested.

I took a sip of my drink, grimacing at the burn of the cold liquid as it ran down the back of my throat.

"I turned Caroline into a vampire over a year ago. And up until two weeks ago, when I had the cure shoved down my throat, she _was_ a vampire. It's a long and involved story including her friends getting into things they'd be best leaving alone, the original family, me, and a whole bunch of dead people."

Nadia looked scandalised for a moment, looking between Katherine and I with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. She took another gulp of her drink, plopping ungracefully back into her chair as she spoke. "Please tell me you didn't wake up Silas?"

"Like Katherine said, my friends have a knack for getting into things they shouldn't."

Katherine stood up from the couch, walking over to the glass wall on the opposite end of the room, leaning against the window with her arms crossed across her chest as she stared at Nadia.

Nadia groaned and closed her eyes, resting her head on the back of the seat. "And?"

"He's dead. My friend turned him into stone and then smashed him to pieces, dumping him in a safe at the bottom of a lake. My friend Elena was given the cure, but I guess she decided that she didn't want to be a human again."

I looked to Katherine to see if she was going to elaborate at all, but she was staring at Nadia with furrowed brows. There was definitely sadness there, which shocked me. Usually the only emotions you saw in Katherine's eyes were anger, self-love, or pity.

"Your friends are obviously idiots." Nadia remarked, staying in her relaxed position in the chair, with one hand now covering her closed eyes. Her comment seemed to brighten Katherine up a bit and she let out a sharp laugh. I shot her a glare. Misguided, maybe? But my friends weren't totally stupid.

Katherine sat back down in her chair while Nadia moved her hand and looked down at me. My stomach tightened as I awaited whatever questions she was planning on shooting my way. "So, how come you're human and not this…Elena? You don't seem too enthused by your situation."

I shook my head. "I don't actually remember how I was cured. It's all blank."

"Which is where I come in." I downed the rest of my whiskey as Katherine spoke. "I was the one who was supposed to be cured, but Caroline decided to be the hero and break up a fight between me and the inferior doppelgänger. It was a 'wrong place, wrong time' sort of situation."

"You really weren't joking when you said it was a long and complicated story, were you?"

"Nope." The effects of that one glass of whiskey were washing over me, and although every inch of my body still thudded achingly, it was now blurred by the calming wave of alcohol. "Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Mystic Falls."

"Okay, so none of that explains why you're in New Orleans looking for a witch."

"I need access to a specific witch guarded by Marcel. The cure knocked Caroline out for a couple of weeks and the witch might be able to tell us exactly why, and what's happening to her body now that she's human again. You can never tell what'll happen with these ancient spells."

Nadia thought over Katherine's words before she turned her head to the door and called out. The black girl who had invited us into the house appeared in the doorway seconds later, this time carrying a tray holding a sandwich and a steaming mug of tea. She walked directly past Nadia and placed the tray down on the coffee in front of me, motioning for me to pick it up before she came to stand next to Nadia's chair.

"This is Kida. She is my most trusted friend. She takes care of the house and will serve both of you while you stay here. It's quite late and I'm guessing that you'll both need your rest before you go off trying to convince Marcel to help you…without the Mikaelson's finding out what you're doing."

Katherine stifled a laugh as she looked across at me. I glared over at her, taking a bite out of the sandwich as my stomach flipped at the thought of Klaus knowing I was here. I was glad I had the distraction of food, especially now that food actually tasted good. I took another bite as Nadia looked between us questioningly. I just shook my head at her. I didn't want to get into logistics of my history with Klaus.

"Alright, then. I'm going to head up to my room. Kida will show you to yours once Caroline has finished eating her food." Nadia headed towards the door, stopping in the doorway and turning to look back. "Oh, and Katerina, don't think this means that we aren't going to talk about your dismissal of me."

"Of course, Nadia." Katherine muttered sarcastically. "I wouldn't dream of avoiding that conversation."

"I could care less about your incessant need to push your past away. If you are going to stay in my house, then we are talking about it."

"Of course, Nadia."

I sat silently as Nadia stormed from the room, Kida exiting just behind her. Katherine looked sadly after her, and suddenly everything made sense. The tension between the two of them, Katherine's fear of showing up here, and the way that Katherine had been acting since we arrived.

I shoved the rest of the sandwich in my mouth, gulping down the cup of tea and placing it back down on the table. Kida, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, glided into the room and motioned for the two of us to follow her out.

I turned to Katherine as we made our way through the entrance and up the steps, a small laugh making its way from my lips. "You were afraid of your own daughter."


	2. Chapter Two: Uncharted

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, or any of the spin offs. I'm simply using the world and its characters to create a version of events that I think is entertaining.**

 **A/N: Here is chapter two of Still Breathing. Some important things happen in this chapter, including the first appearance of our favourite Hybrid.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and if you do please leave a comment. Anyone logged into an account who leaves a comment before the next chapter is posted will receive a message including a preview of what's to come.**

CHAPTER TWO:

' _A foolproof idea, so don't ask me how_

 _To get started, it's all uncharted.'_

 _Uncharted by Sara Bareilles._

CAROLINE'S P.O.V.

Beats of sunlight crawled through the open curtains and bright light flooded my eyes. I pulled my blanket over my head, trying to shield myself from the early morning sun. The soft bed beneath my body was more inviting than the early morning New Orleans sun, and I sunk back into the comfortable mass of blankets that lay on top of me.

The comfort was ripped away too quickly as the warm blankets flew from the bed, letting cold air hit my body. I let out a sharp growl and threw one of the extra pillows towards the end of the bed, hoping to hit Katherine, who I knew would be the one to ruin my perfect night's sleep.

"Good morning to you too, Sunshine. It's time to get up for breakfast. I don't want to see what Kida will do to you if you let her food grow cold again."

Groaning, I rolled onto my back, still shielding my eyes from the sun as I opened them once again. I peeked out from beneath my arm, and there at the end of my bed, just like I knew she would be, was an immaculately dressed Katherine. Hands crossed over her chest defiantly. A playful smile on her red lips. I reached for another pillow and flung it her way. She caught it with ease and threw it back at me with her enhanced vampire strength, taking the breath out of me.

We had only been here for a couple of days and I was already sick of Katherine's early morning cheerfulness. Every morning, just before 8am, she would barge into my room and fling the curtains open, waking me up for breakfast. And it's not like I don't like being up early. In fact, before the whole 'being unconscious for two weeks' thing I was routinely awake at 6 in the morning. However, my body was still getting used to being human again, and for some reason that also meant that my body wanted to constantly be asleep.

I swung on pyjama-clad leg over the edge of the bed, followed by the next, and rubbed at my still-tired eyes. Katherine stayed where she was, watching me with equal amounts of concern and humour. I pushed myself up and stretched my arms above my head, groaning at the pull in my muscles.

"We'll figure out a plan soon. We just have to tread lightly."

"I'll be down in five minutes." I said, ignoring her question while I walked past her and into the adjoining bathroom.

I heard Katherine leave behind me as I closed the bathroom door and leant against the sink, groaning at the fatigue that still ran through my body. No amount of caffeine seemed to help my ever-present tiredness, but hopefully my body would adjust soon.

I looked at myself in the mirror, grimacing at the dark purple bags under my eyes and the birds nest hairdo I was sporting. I managed to make quick work of my hair, tugging and pulling at it with my hairbrush until it finally submitted and let me draw it up into a ponytail. Then I applied the minimum amount of makeup that I could get away with, threw on a plain white t-shirt, a pair of yoga pants, and Ugg boots. It was going to be a long day.

#

The tension between Katherine and Nadia was consuming as I stepping into the room for breakfast. It was considerably worse than it was when we had first arrived. I didn't know if they had taken the chance to talk to each other about their mother-daughter issues yet, but from the rising discomfort in the room I would guess that they hadn't.

I plopped myself down at the large dining table that stretched the whole length of the room, taking my place in the end seat next to Katherine, and across from Nadia. They each stared at me as I sat, probably glad that there was someone else there to occupy their minds.

"Good morning, Caroline." Nadia was sitting back in her seat drinking a glass of wine, dressed in an outfit that looked like it could be worn on a runway somewhere. "Did you sleep okay?"

I smiled politely across at her, trying not to show the nausea I felt sitting amongst the Petrova family mess. "Yes, thank you. It would have gone a lot better had it not been for Katherine's unorthodox wake-up method."

Katherine let out a snort while Nadia just raised her brow and smiled softly. I rested my arms on the hardwood table in front of me, pain shotting up my back as I tried to sit straight. Katherine's humour disappeared as she caught the look of pain on my face. She opened her mouth but I quickly told her that I was fine and that it wasn't too bad.

I was saved by Kida wheeling a small trolley into the room. A smile pulled at my lips as the delicious smell hit my nose. She placed a plate in front of each of us, giving me twice as much food as Nadia and Katherine. She then placed a small teapot in between all of us, along with some tea cups, and a bottle of wine.

Our voices came out in a robotic synchronicity as we thanked her, digging straight into our meals. I had to remind myself that I should pace myself when eating so that I wouldn't make myself throw up. I had already made that mistake once since arriving here, and I didn't want to revisit it.

"So, what are the plans for the day?" Nadia asked, looking up from her plate.

"I think it's about time that I message my mum and friends, just to let them know that I'm okay. Tell them something about this 'holiday' that I'm supposed to be on."

"Why don't you just tell them the truth?" Nadia asked.

"You don't know her friends. They hear anything about Caroline being with me, or anywhere near New Orleans for that matter, and they'd be here on some stupid rescue mission." Katherine paused for a moment, sipping on a glass of wine she had poured. "Then, if past experiences are anything to learn from, we know that they'd most likely turn around and make it seem as if the whole situation has something to do with _Elena_."

"That sounds absolutely horrid." Nadia placed her own glass down on the table, looking towards me. I just sighed and put my fork and knife down on the plate, wiping my hands and face on a napkin.

"Katherine is over-exaggerating. They aren't that bad." I said, my jaw clenched tight as I glared across at Katherine.

She snorted, looking at her daughter. "Yes they are. Anything goes wrong, and they'll swarm ranks around Elena. Even if it has nothing to do with her."

"That's not true, Katherine!"

She sipped on her wine again, smirking at me over the edge of the glass. "Then why aren't you telling them the truth?"

"Because I don't want them to worry. It's better if they think that I'm really on a holiday."

Luckily, Nadia had been quick to change the topic of discussion from me to Katherine, much to Katherine's dismay. It was clear that Nadia was sick of waiting for her mother to open up to her, and it was just as clear that Katherine didn't want to open up at all.

"I don't understand why you won't talk to me about yourself. It can't be hard to reveal just a little bit about your life. From what I've heard you usually have no problem talking about yourself. Why, when it comes to me, do you close up?"

"You don't want to hear all the sordid details of my life Nadia. And I don't particularly want to relive them either."

"I know virtually nothing about the real you." Her voice was raised now and I sunk lower in my seat, wishing that I had left the room before this whole conversation could have begun. "I know the basic rumours and stories that go along with the great Katherine Pierce, but nothing that tells me anything about you. You claim that you want to get to know me now that you're here, yet you don't want me to get to know you."

"I have no problem getting to know you Nadia. In fact, I'd love to know more about the life you've had. But my past, is just that…my past. It's not all fantastic adventures of seduction and escape death. A lot of it is stuff that I don't like to think about anymore. Stuff that I've put behind me."

I gulped as Nadia's eyes hardened and her knuckles turned white against the wine glass she held. I reached for the teapot in the middle of the table, hoping to draw myself further from their conversation. I did not want to get between Katherine and her temper.

Nadia narrowed her eyes further as Katherine cleared my throat. "I'm sorry that I won't talk to you Nadia. It's just…I find it difficult to talk about certain aspects of my past. I know what you want to know, and I won't…I _can't_ revisit that. Not right now. Maybe one day, but I can't just yet."

I gulped down a scalding mouthful of the herbal tea that Kida had brought out and watched as Nadia's gaze softened slowly, but the hardness was still there behind her bright green eyes.

Before Nadia could even respond Katherine got up from her chair, placed her glass down on the table, and ran from the room at top speed.

"I don't know why she finds it so difficult to talk to me."

I focused on Nadia as she spoke, pulling my eyes away from the door where Katherine had just disappeared. I stacked mine and Katherine's empty plates on top of one another, trying to both calm my unsettled nerves and make things easier for Kida when she came to clean up.

"Well, think about it like this: you spent your whole life searching for Katherine, and she spent her whole life running from everything in her life." I said, stumbling over my words as I tried not to make Nadia turn even more aggressive than she looked with her hand still clenched tightly on her glass. "It can't be easy for her to open up after all this time being so secretive and closed off. I bet you that once she gets to know you better she'll open right up and tell you anything you want to know."

"I doubt that." It took a moment for her to reply as she sat and picked at the aging label on the wine bottle. Sighing as she thought over my words. "Anyway, I'm sure it would nice for you to talk to your friends again. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you."

It was my time to sigh this time. I knew I had to message everyone and tell them that I was okay, but I knew there would be a lot of questions that I couldn't really answer.

I plastered a well-practiced fake smile on my face as I met Nadia's eyes, standing up from my chair and heading towards the French double doors. "I'm sure that you're right. I'm gonna go and do that now, so I'll see you later on."

I walked slowly through the house up to my room, glancing at Katherine's closed door that sat opposite mine. I shook my head at myself and headed into my room, closing the door behind me and heading straight to the vanity drawers that were placed next to the large bed and sitting down.

I pulled my phone and charger from the top left drawer and plugged it in to charge, waiting a few minutes before it turned on and the succession of dings letting me know of all of the messages that I had missed.

I unlocked the phone, not paying attention to the messages from my friends as I scrolled straight to my mums name and sent her a message letting her know that I was awake and that we were working on talking to the witch that Katherine knew. Then I went through each person and sent them all the same thing:

I'm sorry I haven't returned any of your messages. I got the opportunity to go on an amazing holiday before collage starts and I just couldn't turn it down. I'm sorry if I don't reply to your messages or calls for a while, reception isn't very good where I am. Talk when I can.

Within a minute if me sending the message to each of my friends, the replies started to flood in. I groaned and slowly opened them one by one.

 **Elena:** Hey Care! I'm so glad you decided to go away on a holiday. Bonnie's gone away with her mum as well. I have amazing news! When the wall between the other side was down Bonnie somehow brought Jeremy and Alaric back to life. I'll tell you more when we talk. Miss you.

 **Stefan:** I'm glad that you're okay, Caroline. Everything here is fine. I hope you have a good trip.

 **Matt:** I've been so worried about you Caroline, but I'm glad you're alright. I think after the last couple of years we all deserve a holiday. Even I got away for a little while. I hope the trip is great. Message me when you can.

 **Tyler:** Where are you? I came back to town and your mum said you had left. If you tell me where you are I can come and meet up with you. We can spend some time together before you start at school.

I let my head fall into my hands as I finished reading Tyler's message. That's just what I needed, Tyler tracking me down. If he found out that I was human again he would probably spin it to be about him. And on top of that, if he found out that I was in New Orleans, the same city that Klaus was in, he would start making stupid accusations and fly into a rage.

My phone dinged again and I was thankful that it wasn't another message from him, but a message from Elena instead. Reading over the message I didn't bother replying, knowing that if I engaged in conversation with her it would go on and one forever, and I didn't want to deal with that just yet.

I had other messages from people on the cheer team, and some of my dad's family who couldn't make it to my graduation. I messaged them all back thanking them and letting them know that I was having a holiday and would be out of reach. Then I messaged Matt back and promised to message him back soon, knowing that he was less-likely to pry into every little detail.

I struggled off of the small chair that I had been sitting on in front of the vanity and walked over to the bedside table where I had placed all of the books my mum had packed in my bag. Sitting on the corner of the bed I picked my tattered copy of Twilight from the bottom of the pile. For once I was happy that my mum wasn't up-to-date with what I was into, because although I had absolutely no interest in reading Twilight, I was glad that it was here.

I flicked through the thin pages and felt a smile pull at the corner of my mouth as the smell hit my nose. As I flicked through it the pages fell in a large chunk to the page that was marked by a bookmark. Not marking any particular page in the book was a slip of worn paper with a very familiar drawing on it.

Pulling the drawing out from the pages, I threw the book aside and smiled at the words that were written on the edge of the paper. 'Thank you for your honesty.'

My mind slowly wandered to the night that inspired this drawing, then to the moments he and I had shared at the graduation after he'd come to save the day. I was glad that the one thing that seemed to be clear in my mind about that night was my conversation with him. Our witty banter over the money he had given me as a present, and how he had told me he would be my last love…

"However long it takes." I whispered quietly, feeling heat flood my cheeks as I placed the picture down on the mattress beside me. Tyler couldn't even wait a couple of weeks for me to come back to Mystic Falls, but Klaus said he'd wait forever.

What would Klaus think if he could see me right now? Would his feelings towards me be the same if he knew that I was human again?

I sighed and laid my head in my hands. I definitely needed to sort out more than just being human before I returned to Mystic Falls. I needed to figure out what I was going to do now that I didn't have forever to travel the world, as well as what I wanted from my now-limited life.

I stood up from the bed and started to ace the length of the room, ignoring the shooting pain in the back of my legs. Closing my eyes I imagined what Klaus' reaction would when he found out that he didn't have multiple lifetimes to woo me. That's if I was still interesting enough now that I wasn't a vampire.

I scowled at myself, mentally slapping myself across the face. Why was I even thinking about this? Klaus wasn't a boyfriend. I had no claim on him, so why were all my thoughts turning to his opinion of me rather than the guy that I was actually dating?

A heavy breath shook its way through my body as I walked across the room and fell into the vanity seat again, snatching up my phone and opening Tyler's message back up. I stared at his name for a minute before I started to form my reply.

After I typed the message I read over it several times, tears falling down my cheeks as I pressed the send button. I quickly locked my phone and placed it back down on the vanity, screen facing down. Hands on my hips, I took shaky breathes in and out as I thought about how Tyler was going to react when he read my message. My breakup text.

It hurt beyond belief to write what I had written, but I knew in my gut that he just wasn't what I wanted anymore.

I immediately hated myself for breaking up with him through text, but I knew that I couldn't face speaking to him over the phone. I would end up caving and taking it back or telling him where I was. I also knew that he would be furious when he saw my message. We had waited for a long time to be together, but that was the problem. In my mind I knew that we had waited too long. I didn't want the same things as I did when he and I had first gotten together. And neither did he.

I held back tears as I rushed into the adjoining bathroom and turned the shower on, barely getting my clothes off before I climbed into the hot stream of water.

A good shower would ease the aching in my muscles, but it would also hide my tears and stop any residual swelling that might occur.

The hot spray of water ran across my body and I let out a sigh of a mixture of pain and anguish, letting the tears run down my cheeks as I thought over the words that I had sent to Tyler.

Hey, Ty. I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you finally got home. I really needed to get out of Mystic Falls, find myself, and make some series decisions about my future. After two weeks away I've already managed to make some pretty important decisions. I thought about what I had wanted us to be before you had to leave, and how I wanted out future to pan out, but that's impossible now. I'm so sorry, but I think it's best if we go our separate ways.

#

KLAUS' P.O.V.

The colour of the paint was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the real thing.

I mixed some more white into the mix I already had, making it a pale, blonde tone. I grabbed my thin brush back off of the table and added just a small amount of the paint before stroking the colour on to highlight the parts of the golden hair I had grown to love so much.

After I applied the pale colour I sat back, placing the palette back onto the table with one hand while I grabbed my bourbon with the other, taking a swig as I looked at the half-finished portrait that sat in front of me. No matter how many times I painted her, or how accurate each piece seemed, nothing was as good as the real thing. There was always _something_ that was just wrong with it.

I finished my drink and picked the paintbrush back up, washing it off and grabbing a darker shade of blonde that I had mixed up earlier for the shadows. I could feel the growing agitation as each stroke made my stomach tense and my muscles clench with a distinct feeling of …homesickness.

I growled and threw the paintbrush down on the table, not caring about the splatters of paint that went flying. Standing up from my chair and storming from the room, I held my bourbon glass in hand. I needed something stronger. Something that could help me forget about the blonde beauty that had been plaguing my mind ever since I had returned to Mystic Falls post-curse.

Heading straight to the bar in the corner of the lounge room, I scowled at my siblings that were watching me like some sort of ticking time bomb. I ignored them as I went through the cupboards and pulled out one of the oldest bottles of bourbon that we had in stock. Ripping the lid off I poured it into my glass, some of the liquid sloshing over the edges. Throwing the drink back, I repeated the process twice. Then I started a third time.

"Having a bad day, brother?" Elijah asked from where he stood next to the window.

I looked up at him and glared. "My day is fine, Elijah. I'm just not in the mood."

"You're never in the mood these days, from what I hear." I spun to face the door, seeing my sister standing there with a smirk on her face and one hand on her hips.

"Hello, Rebekah. When did you decide that you weren't too good for our little family?"

Her lip curled up at me as she strutted into the room, coming to sit on the opposite end of the couch to where Hayler say, who didn't look all that pleased at all.

I drank what was left in my glass before picking up the whole bottle and heading for the exit, wanting to just be alone in my studio.

"Don't pout, Nik. People might think you've gotten soft." I stopped at Rebekah's taunting and turned to face her.

"I am not weak, Rebekah. I am simply sick of people sticking their noses into my business."

"Klaus, we're just worried. You've been in a horrible mood ever since we decided to settle down in New Orleans."

I looked around the room at what was left of my family. My nosy sister, my saint-like brother, and the mother of my unborn child. All of them staring at me. Expecting me to do…something. I scowled again and lifted the bottle to my lips, closing my eyes as I took a large mouthful.

I felt the air around me shift and my eyes shot open to see Rebekah come to a stop at the opposite side of the room. I growled, feeling my face heat up as my vision shifted and the veins pushed their way through my skin. "Give me back my phone Rebekah."

"You know, maybe if you called her instead of moping around the house like a love struck puppy, you wouldn't be so insufferable." She said, tapping away on my phone.

"I don't know what the hell you're on about. But, if you don't give my phone back I'll-"

She looked me up and down, one of her eyebrows arching in amusement. "You'll what? Shove me in a coffin? I'd welcome a nap right about now. At least it would save me from your adolescent pining."

Hayley stood up from the couch, her shirt pulling up to reveal a hint of her growing baby bump. I had to fight to tear my eyes away to look back at Rebekah, who was still flicking through my phone.

"Give. Me. My. Phone."

"Can't you two just grown up?" Hayley yelled as she stormed past me and out of the room. "You're both over 1000 years old and you're acting like children. It's enough to drive me fucking insane."

We all looked at Hayley as she stopped in the entrance hall, hands on her widened hips, eyes angry and lips curled as she yelled at us. I stared at her with my mouth hanging open, shocked by her outburst.

"Rebekah, give Klaus his bloody phone. He's moody enough as it is without you teasing him." She said, before addressing me. "And Klaus, instead of moping around, act like the man you are and call her. It's not that hard."

She stormed up the staircase towards her room, not looking back as she left. I closed my mouth and turned back to Rebekah, holding my hand out expectantly for my phone. She smirked before tapping the screen and throwing the phone through the air into my awaiting hands. Then she spend past me and up the stairs, yelling a 'goodluck' behind her.

I looked down at my phone, my stomach dropped as I read Caroline's name on the screen and heard the faint 'ring ring' of the dial tone. She had called Caroline. I gulped, knowing that even if I hung up the phone Caroline would still receive a missed call from me and then wonder why I had tried to call her.

I made the quick decision to speed up and into my studio, slamming the door behind me as I put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" The sound of her voice sent a ripple of chills down my spine and I had to shake myself in order to concentrate on what she was saying. "Klaus, are you there?"

"Hello, Love."

"What do you want Klaus?" She said, her voice coated with annoyance as she spoke. I listened carefully at the noise coming from her side of the phone call. Running water.

"Having an afternoon shower, Sweetheart?" I asked, before playfully adding, "It wouldn't happen to be a cold one, would it? Been thinking about me?"

"You wish." She let out one of her full laughs, sending shock waves across my whole body. "No, Klaus, it isn't a cold shower. I just haven't been feeling 100% and I thought a nice hot shower would make me feel a little bit better."

"Are you alright?"

She didn't reply for a moment, and I heard the shower water still running in the background. Even though worry prickled at the corner of my mind, I couldn't fight of the images of her naked and wet in the shower.

"I'm fine. I just…a lot has happened since graduation and I'm just trying to figure some stuff out."

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm an excellent listener." I sat down on my chair and placed the bottle of whiskey, which I was still holding, down on the table next to my discarded paints.

"It's kind of a long story, Klaus. And I'm still trying to figure everything out. Thanks for offering to listen though. I appreciate it."

"I mean it Caroline, you can talk to me about anything. I'll help in any way that I can."

I heard her deep intake of breath, as well as her quiet footsteps, followed by the running water being turned off. She put the phone down, telling me to wait a moment before there was a series of shuffling in the background. I could picture her looking around her bedroom for a change of clothes to wear.

Trying to pull my mind away from what her bare skin would look like, but failing miserably.

She picked the phone back up and with the shuffling of material she sat down.

"I don't know if I should tell you. And if I do, I don't really know how to."

"Well, I for one think you should definitely tell me. And the start is probably the best place to begin."

She let out a nervous laugh that was followed by an exhausted sigh. "Well, I suppose I could start with the fact that I've been unconscious for the past two weeks."

Every nerve ending in my body tingled at her words. My brains scanned all of the possibilities of what could have happened. She was obviously okay now, otherwise she wouldn't be talking to me on the phone. But had she been hurt? Attacked? Captured?

"Something happened at the school after you left me in the parking lot." She started, her voice quiet. Shaking. Nothing like the confident person she was at the start of the phone call. "I don't remember a lot of what happened after that, but I've been getting the blanks filled in. I stupidly tried to break up a fight between Elena and Katherine."

An involuntary growl escaped my mouth at the mention of both of the doppelgänger's. "What did they do?"

"Well," She sighed again, her breath crackling as it hit the speaker in the phone. "Katherine was on top of Elena, and was apparently about to tear Elena's heart from her chest. And then I pulled her off just before Elena…fought back. And when she did, I was the one who was hurt. I passed out and only woke up a couple of days ago."

" _Elena_ attacked you?" My words came out harsh and clipped, my fists clenched and shook as the familiar sensation of a shift spread deep in my bones. I tried to calm myseld down, forcing myself to stop the tremors running down my arms.

"She didn't mean to. She was half-conscious when she did it. She didn't notice that I wasn't Katherine." If it hadn't been for the fact that Caroline had been injured, I probably would have been amused at how quickly she jumped to defend her friend. Typical. Everyone jumped to defend Elena.

"I'm sure she didn't, Sweetheart. Why don't you tell me what happened exactly?"

"I doubt me telling you what she did will make you feel any better." She said, laughing nervously. "If anything it will make you hate her more."

"Caroline," I breathed, my chest pulling tighter and my heartbeat beating louder. "Just tell me what happened."

"I don't think you've ever been this worries about me. It's nice to know that you care so much." Her voice hitched in her throat as she started to cry.

"Of course I care, Caroline. It's impossible not to care about you."

Silence washed over us as I heard her grabbing around for a tissue. The worry and anger were at war in my body, each one trying to prove themselves stronger as I fought hard to keep them both at bay. I was worried about Caroline and about what had happened to her, bit I was furious that Elena had somehow hurt her. Even if she wasn't aware of it at the time.

"That means a lot. Probably more than you think." She said, sniffling quietly. "I'm just so angry and upset. I'm upset that I'm in this position now, and that it was Elena that put me here. Not to mention that she was going to do this to Katherine. Katherine, of all people!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sweethear." I whispered, reaching out to grab the edge of the table until it nearly buckled and snapped under my strength, trying to prepare myself for the bad news.

"I'm afraid to say it out loud. I can't bring myself to say the words." I could hear the panic rising in her as her breath hit the speaker faster and faster.

I couldn't handle the waiting. It was like there was an invisible pressure that was closing closer and closer around my body. I tried to control my rage, not wanting to upset her further, bit the wolf inside of me was growing restless with the need for control. "Just tell me, Caroline."

"Elena shoved the cure down my throat." She said, shouting the words through the phone.

Everything stopped. I couldn't tell you how much time passed. My brain fought to try and comprehend exactly what she had said. Elena had cured her. Cured. As in, she was human.

I was shaken out of my inner turmoil by a loud, gasping sob. Her cries grew louder and louder, each one like a thousand bullets hitting my skin. The sounds muffled, and I knew she had put the phone down.

I sat, staring around my studio at all of the sketches and paintings that I had done of her since being here in New Orleans, and I tried to imagine what Caroline would be like now that she was human. She definitely wouldn't want to be with me now. She would want to settle down and live out her human life. She wouldn't waste what time she had with me.

She picked the phone back up, having stifled her sobs slightly, her breathing having returned to semi-normal. "Are you still here?"

"Yes." I said, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat before continuing. "Yes, I'm still here Sweetheart."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I didn't want this. It was never an option for me. There were other people who wanted it more than I did. Like Elena, or Stefan. Rebekah even wanted the cure. I never contemplated what I would do if I had it. And now I've had it thrust upon me and I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Before this I had as long as I wanted to decide my future. I could spend hundreds of years travelling the world before deciding on a career. That's if I even wanted to build a career. Now I feel like my whole life has just imploded. And on top of all of that, I'm the furthest I've ever been from home, with two people whose attitudes to one another make me a big ball of anxiety."  
She stopped abruptly as if she had just realised she had said too much.

I tried to take in everything she had said. She was really human. I took a small bit of comfort in the fact that she hadn't willingly taken the cure, but it didn't change the fact that she was still hu- "Who the hell are you with and why aren't you in Mystic Falls?"

"I'm fine Klaus. I'm just over exaggerating." I could almost smell her lie through the phone. My other senses picking up on the lilt in her voice.

I gripped the table even tighter in my hand, the wood finally breaking under the pressure, leaving a hand-sized hold in the edge of the table top. "Don't lie to me Caroline. It's taking all of my self-control not to snap and run straight to Mystic Falls to give Elena a visit. I want to know that you're okay. Who. Are. You. With?"

One beat…two beats…she didn't reply. Three beats…four beats…a deep sigh. "No one in Mystic Falls, except for my mum, knows what happened. Elena was unconscious as soon as she shoved it down my throat, and then mum told everyone that I had gone on a holiday instead of telling them that I was actually unconscious."

"If you and Elena were both unconscious, then how did you get home without everyone else knowing?" I waited, trying not to sound too aggressive through the phone, but knowing that I was failing miserably. She stayed silent again, not answering my question.

"Katherine carried me home to my mum and explained everything. I suppose she felt…something, about me saving her from being cured. And then after two weeks of me being unconscious my mum decided that something wasn't quite right, and for some reason she sought out Katherine instead of my friends. I'm not too sure why.

I mean, imagine my surprise waking up in the back of Katherine's car, hallway to…well, hallway here. It came as a bit of a shock. But Katherine's been pretty decent considering she doesn't have to be nice to me."

Another chunk of the table broke off and feel to the floor as I held onto it with a death grip. She was off somewhere with Katherine. Katherine! And someone else. Someone who, from what Caroline had previously said, didn't get alone with Katherine either. "Where are you? I can come and get you and you can come and stay with me."

Her tone hardened and I could picture the skin between her eyebrows furrowing up in anger. "I'm perfectly fine where I am Klaus. I don't need you, or anyone else, running in and protecting me. I can take care of myself."

I bit back the growl that threatened to escape from behind my teeth. "You're human now, Caroline. You can't protect yourself the way that you could when you were a vampire. Let me protect you. Just tell me where you are."

"I'm fine where I am. Katherine is being decent, and our host doesn't have an issue with me, it's Katherine she's having issues with. I don't need your help."

"I'm not asking you again, Caroline. Tell me."

She sighed angrily, and I could hear the shift of material again as she stood up. "All I'm going to tell you is that I'm closer to you than I am to Mystic Falls. That's all you get. I don't want you tracking me down and ripping out people's hearts before you ask questions. Once things settle down more we can sort something out, but in the meantime you interrupted my shower. So, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and finish that and then get dressed ready for lunch. Bye, Klaus."

"Goodbye, Caroline." I whispered, but she had already hung up.


	3. Chapter Three: Between the Lines

**A/N: Hello! I'm so sorry for the delay. I've been busy with the childcare course I'm doing and haven't had time to reread through the chapter and upload it. I wanted to say that I have the completed fanfiction written for Still Breathing, so you don't have to worry about me not finishing posting it.**

 **Anywho, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. We see a bit of Klaus, a WHOLE lot of Katherine, and a smidge of Kalijah. Don't forget to leave a comment and if you have an account you'll get a sneak peak of chapter four in your private messages.**

CHAPTER THREE:

' _Leave unsaid unspoken,_

 _Eyes wide shut unopened_

 _You and me_

 _Always between the lines.'_

 _Between the Lines by Sara Bareilles._

KLAUS' P.O.V.

The table shattered into pieces as it connected with the wall. I let out an earth shaking roar as I felt my face transform. Turning towards my current work in progress, which I had spent countless hours working on, I held it in my hands and took in each delicate brush stroke, the paint still wet from my earlier painting session. I gripped the canvas in my hands, staring at the picture with venom instead of the usual adoration. I was angry that she wouldn't do what I had asked of her. Angry that she was now a human, and even more out of reach that she was before.

I raised the painting above my head, and felt my muscles tense in preparation of me throwing the canvas against the wall, which was filled with other portraits of the blue-eyes girl that filled my every thought.

As I moved to release the painting at full-force, a tight restraining hand wrapped around the edge of the canvas and pulled it from my grip, placing it back on the easel as if I hadn't just been about to destroy it.

I glared at my brother, reaching around him for the painting, only to be pushed back with such force that I went flying across the room and landed against the doorframe. The wood buckled slightly under the force of my body, but I ignored that as I sped to my feet, looking at my brother with as much malice as I could muster.

"Get out, Elijah." I said, my voice coming out in an animalistic hiss. He didn't even flinch as I spoke, standing his ground glaring across at me.

"Niklaus, you need to calm down."

"Calm down?" I stepped forward, fists clenched at my sides as I advanced on him. "I will not calm down. I _can't_ calm down. Not now. Not after this."

He remained still, his hands in his pockets, with the blank and worried looked on his face. I walked forward, wrapping my hand around his throat and held him off of the ground. In one swift movement my hand was knocked away and I was flying through the air and crashing into the door again.

I landed on a heap on the ground, looking up at my brother, preparing myself to counterattack. He zoomed forward and kicked me out of the room and threw me down the flight of stairs. I ignored the pain as I tumbled down to the ground floor.

I shot to my feet and bared my teeth as Elijah as he descended the stairs as if he hadn't just swung me around like a ragdoll. I let out a feral noise and flashed my fully extended teeth. Crouching low, my body was screaming at me to shift and attack. He stopped a few feet in front of me. Close enough for me to pounce, bite into his-

"Niklaus. If you're having anger issues take I out on something that will easily fix itself. Destroying your whole studio will only cause you to hate yourself more than if you spar with me." He said, voice relaxed, as if he was suggesting something as simple as a chess match.

"I don't want to fight you. I want to get rid of everything. I can't look at the paintings anymore. I can't have them here, taunting me with something I can never have." I straightened up as I spoke, letting my fangs sink back into my jaw, and the veins under my eyes to blend back into my flesh.

"If you can't stand to look at the pictures of her, then you pack them away in storage. You don't destroy them all and throw a tantrum." He said, his voice dripping with condescension. "I understand that you're in pain. I understand that it's hard for you to hear about Caroline's current situation. But, think about it this way: she now has a limited amount of time left on this earth, and when she's gone you'll at them pictures and remember the feeling you had when you first realised you had feelings for her. In a hundred years from now, you'll look back and remember the person she was, not the person that she could have been."

"It's not that easy Elijah. I can't just pack them up and ignore the fact that I'll never get my chance. When she was a vampire, I had the small possibility of a chance. It didn't matter how long I had to wait. There was a chance that she would one day decide that she had feelings for me too. Now she's mortal, and she's going to want to settle down with some dull human and she's not going to want me."

"That's not true." Rebekah said, walking out from the kitchen door, watching us carefully as she stepped closer. "If I know Caroline, which I hate to admit that I do, she wouldn't be the type to want to settle down straight away. She's going to want an education, a career, and then a family afterwards. But even then, some people prefer to live their lives with their career and never decide to settle down."

"It still doesn't change anything. She didn't want me before, why would she want me now."

"You shouldn't give up just because there's another bump in the road, Niklaus. Wait until you speak with her again before you give up completely."

#

KATHERINE'S P.O.V.

Tapping my foot on the ground impatiently, I waited for Caroline to stop looked at me guiltily. She was fidgeting and pulling at a loose thread on the grey sweater she was wearing, her wet hair pulled up onto the top of her head.

"It's really not that bad. I mean, Klaus knows that I'm human now, so it should be easy for us to get past him to see the witch. He didn't exactly mention wanting to hunt you down and killing you."

I crossed my arms across my chest and tilted my head to one side. "But Klaus now knows that I'm with you, near New Orleans. He's going to send out his goons to find me, and I doubt he's going to lenient when he finds me. Why did you have to tell him?"

Caroline threw her arms up in the air and stood from the chair she had been sitting on, pacing across the carpeted floor. "Because, I happen to trust him. I didn't want to lie to him, so I told him the truth. It's not that big a deal. I'm sure I can talk him out of doing anything while we're here."

I scowled across at her and rose from my own seat, storming closer until I came to stand directly in front of her face. My mind having moved from my own safety, to the safety of Nadia and Kida, who I had dragged into this mess. "And what about Nadia. If Klaus finds out who she is, he'd have a field day. Who knows what he'd do to her if he wanted to get to me?"

Caroline glared at me and stamped her foot on the ground, resembling a two year old. "He doesn't have to know about Nadia and her connection to you. We can figure something so that you can go into the city, see your witch, and you won't even have to encounter Klaus or the other Originals."

"You obviously don't know that much about Klaus." I bit out, turning around and storming over to where the copious bottles of alcohol sat. I poured myself a drink and swallowed it in one gulp. Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut?

My hands shook as I refilled the glass and sipped at it with shaking hands. I knew that in coming to New Orleans I would be running the risk of encountering Klaus, but I was hoping to make my presence known on my own terms, not because of some over-emotional phone call.

Every instinct in my body was telling me that I should run away as fast as I could, but I knew that wasn't an option this time. I couldn't just up and leave Caroline, or leave Nadia after I had promised her that I would stay and get to know her.

Nadia. Just thinking about her made my heart beat quicker in my chest. The daughter I had lost a long time ago, come back from the dead to dredge up all of the bad memories that I had. I took a deep breath before sipping my drink again, closing my eyes shut tight and trying to steady myself.

"You won't tell your friends about what happened, but you'll tell one of the oldest, deadliest people in the world. I will never understand how your brain works."

The door to the room opened Nadia walked in in all her glory. When I had first met her I had made the assumption that she was a descendant of the Petrova bloodline, like Isabelle. Someone who was from further down the bloodline and just bore similar features to me.

Little did I know that I had been very wrong. When she had sat down across from me in the small booth in the diner she had tracked me down to, and looked over at me with her brilliant emerald green eyes, I saw everything that I had left behind me in Bulgaria 500 years ago. Every moment I had shared with her father had come rushing back to me, and I had the urge to run away as fast as I could.

And I did.

But here she stood, barely tolerating my presence, as I dodged her every question. Her dead-straight hair shone in the sunlight that came through the large window, and she looked between Caroline and I in confused disdain. She greeted Caroline politely before walking over to the cupboard where I had poured myself my drink, and began rummaging around looking for something specific.

"What are you two arguing about?" She asked, her arm disappearing to the back of the cupboard as she continued her search.

"Nothing." Caroline replied, making herself comfortable on her chair.

I scoffed at her words, causing her to glare up at me. "Caroline went and told Klaus Mikaelson that she was human and in New Orleans with me."

Nadia's hand shot out of the cupboard and she stood up, slamming her hands down on the table sending a loud bang throughout the room. "You what?"

"I didn't tell him where I was. I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't put you guys in danger like that." Caroline stared at Nadia with apologetic eyes.

"So," Nadia started, looking between Caroline and I, "you called the original hybrid, and offered up all this information? Exactly how close are you two?"

"We're not close." Caroline insisted, not convincing anyone. "He called me because he wanted to talk. He has a certain affinity towards me."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't believe for one minute that he was calling her just to talk. Klaus always did stuff with some ulterior motive in mind. Especially where Caroline was concerned. He wanted something, that's for sure. But Caroline's news probably got in the way of him asking for it.

Caroline continued to protest as Nadia went back to the cupboard and reached deep into it to retrieve a very old bottle of bourbon. I ignored both of them as I walked back to my seat and sat down, mind racing over every possible outcome of my presence in New Orleans.

"Besides," Caroline was saying as I tuned her back in, "it's none of your business who I decide to tell my business."

"It is if it puts my family in danger." I hissed out between clenched teeth, not paying any attention to the fact I'd slipped up and called Nadia family. "You may think that Klaus won't hurt you because of his _feelings_ for you, but I have known Klaus for 500 years. He's ruthless, cold hearted, and he'll dagger his own siblings if he doesn't get his way."

"I know that Katherine, but I trust him enough to know that he isn't going to hurt me."

I was about to bite back at her, but a sudden vibration in my jean pocket had me pulling my mobile phone out. I smiled as I took in the caller ID. Elijah. "Well, we're about to find out…Hello Elijah."

"Katerina. How are you?" His voice floated through the phone, melting my carefully placed exterior as it washed over me. I watched as Caroline leant closer to me in her seat, trying to use her human hearing to pick up on what was being said.

"I'm as good as I've ever been. And you, 'Lijah?"

"I'm fine." He paused, clearing his throat before continuing. "I'm calling because Klaus spoke to Caroline earlier, and she said that she was currently with you."

"Did she now? And why does me being with Caroline warrant a phone call from you? I was under the impression that you didn't care about what happened with me." I stood up from the chair and walked past Nadia to where the window sat. I looked out towards the trees, imagining Elijah probably doing the same thing on the other side of the phone. He was probably wearing one of his perfectly tailored suites, without a single hair out of place as he stood…or sat, all business.

"My brother is rather fond of Caroline, as I'm sure you already know."

"Really," I cut in, trying to make myself sound as over-the-top and incredulous as I could. I had no idea."

"Don't be so childish, Katerina. He's worried about her wellbeing while in your presence. And I can't say that I disagree with him. No doubt you have some major scheme on how you can use her to your advantage against my brother."

I rolled my eyes as I ran my nails against my scalp in my hair. Of course Klaus was worried, I was most likely getting this phone call after some long-winded hissy fit. And of course they all thought I was going to hurt Caroline. That was exactly why I didn't want them to know that she and I were here.

"You can tell your brother that Caroline is perfectly fine. I haven't touched a single blonde hair on her pretty little head. And I don't plan to."

"You can understand why Klaus and I have a hard time believing that." I scowled at the tone in his voice. There was a time when Elijah wouldn't even dare condescend me. Damn Elena and her pushing herself into other people's business.

"If I had planned to hurt Caroline, you can guarantee that _I_ would have been the one to call Klaus instead of Caroline."

He stayed quiet for a moment. In the background I could hear the soft scraping of glass against wood. "And no doubt you'd use her as a bargaining chip for your freedom, Katherine. Why is it that you aren't doing that? Why are you with Caroline at all?"

"It's none of yours, or Klaus' business, Elijah. If Klaus wanted to know what I was doing, all he had to do was ask Caroline." I flinched at his use of the name Katherine. He very rarely used the newest adaption of my birth name, and when he did it was always when he was upset, angry, or disappointed in me.

"I'm not arguing with you right now. I called because I'm worried about my brother." He sighed. "I think it would be a good idea if we could all meet up. Let Klaus see for himself that Caroline is okay. He might calm down a bit is he sees that she's not hurt in any way."

"You sound tired, Elijah." I said, changing the subject. "Are you getting enough sleep?"

The quiet ripple of a growl travelled down the phone, sending shivers down my spine. "Don't try and flirt with me Katerina. I'm trying to be civil. It took a lot for me to rein Klaus in so that I could call and arrange something with you. Now, he mentioned that Caroline was close to New Orleans. How close, exactly?"

Turning away from my view of the trees I looked between Caroline and Nadia. Nadia had gotten herself a glass of the old bourbon and was perched on the arm of the chair that Caroline was still sitting, cross legged, on. Both of them were watching me with wide eyes. Nadia looked thoroughly confused, whereas Caroline had a knowing smirk on her face.

I scowled and turned back to the window.

"We're near the outskirts of the city, staying with a friend of mine."

"And why New Orleans? Out of all of the places in the world you choose New Orleans. It seems as if you have every intention of using Caroline as leverage."

"Not everything is about your brother, you know. There's someone else in New Orleans that I need to see. I offered to help Caroline find out more about what the cure did, and someone I know might be able to help us. The fact that your family is currently living here is purely coincidental."

"Is it Marcel?" He asked, his interest piquing. I immediately wondered why Marcel was of such an interest. I knew, from the time that I had spent with Marcel back in the early 1900's that he and Klaus were like family.

"Not directly." I answered. "Although, it has been a while since I last saw Marcel. It would be nice to catch up with him."

"Who do you want to see here?"

I raised my brow even though he couldn't see me, and smiled. Something big was happening in New Orleans. Something that threatened the Mikaelson's in some way. A sweet taste coated my tongue. There was no other reason why Elijah would be so interested. But what could it be? Would it make it more difficult for me to see who I needed to?

"A witch. I'll need to see Marcel first, of course. To get him to grant me his permission. Why the sudden interest in my involvement with Marcel? Jealous?"

"I'm just curious."

"Of course you are." I said, pausing for dramatic effect. "Well, I'm sure I could bring Caroline to New Orleans, but I have conditions."

"I didn't doubt that you would." He let out a long breath. "Let me guess, you want your _freedom_." I flinched, tapping one of my fingers on the window pane as I watched the sun dance across the trees.

"I've come to the realisation that life wouldn't be any fun if I was completely free of Klaus, so I'll pass this time. Like I said, I have no problem arranging a meeting between the two lovebirds, I just want assurance that I'm not going to be killed on sight. The same goes for anyone associated with me while I'm here. I don't want some innocent acquaintance of mine having their heart ripped out because they know me. I'm not here to stir up anything, I'm here to help Caroline and then I'll be on my merry way."

I could almost hear his mind ticking as he took in my words. I pushed away from the window, ignoring the stares I was still getting, and sat back down gently in the chair, picking up my glass and drinking what was left inside.

"Why do you want to help Caroline? Being compassionate isn't something you do, Katerina."

"If Caroline hadn't have stepped in…I would the human one." I fought to keep the lightness in my voice, hiding how grateful I actually was.

"I'll talk to Klaus and call you back." I didn't get the change to say anything else because he hung up straight away. I blew out the breath I had been holding and placed my phone on the arm of the chair, laying my head against the back.

"That was…weird." Nadia said, making my head shoot up. She had moved from her position on the arm of Caroline's chair and was now standing back over near the alcohol, pouring herself a drink.

"Yep." Caroline took a teacup off of a tray that Kida was holding. When had she come into the room? "Nothing is ever normal where Katherine, or the Mikaelson's are concerned. I've heard much weirder conversations…I've had weirder conversations."

I rubbed my hands over my face, groaning. If only Caroline hadn't spilled her guts to Klaus, then I could have approached them myself and they wouldn't have known we were so close.

"So, what's going happen?" She asked, shifting in her seat as I looked over at her.

"I don't know. He'll talk to Klaus, who is 'seriously worried' about by the way. I'm guessing that Klaus threatened him copiously to get him to do it."

"I told him that I was fine." She said, avoiding my eyes as she looked down at her cup.

"He seems to really like you, Caroline." Nadia announced from her spot near the cabinet behind the couch. Caroline looked immediately uncomfortable and started to fiddle with the edge of her pants.

"He just likes the thrill of the chase. He's only interested as long as I say no. I bet you that if I gave in, he'd drop me in a hot second."

"I doubt that. If Klaus wanted to have his way with you, he'd make it impossible for you to say no to him. From what I've seen, he's given you the freedom of choice."

"Let's talk about something else. Like, oh I know…'Lijah." Caroline said, smiling across at me. I curled up my lip. I didn't want to talk about Elijah, especially with Nadia here.

I was still angry at Elena for having caused my relationship to break up. The only relationship I actually felt comfortable in, and would want to settle into. I had been with heaps of men over the centuries, but Elijah was different. I felt more than I had ever felt with any other man, with him. And Elena had ruined that.

"Yeah." Nadia agreed, walking closer. "I actually wanted to ask you about that."

"There's nothing to talk about." I said defensively.

"Okay. If you feel uncomfortable talking about your current relationship status, why don't we go further back. Why don't you tell me something about my father?"

I froze. I should have known she would try to get more information out of me. I looked up at her blankly, noticing the hopeful look in her eyes. I could see Caroline sink lower into her chair, avoiding any sort of confrontation that might happen between Nadia and I.

I took a long, rattling breath, closing my eyes and trying to bring myself to say anything that would get me out of this situation. I had spent the past three days avoiding this. Why did she have to be so persistent?

I opened my eyes again and looked at her. Hopeful that I would give some kind of response. Her green eyes wide and unblinking as she watched me. I shook my head. I couldn't do this. I'd never spoken about him to anyone before. Not since I had been a human in Bulgaria. Long before I had been banished to London.

I turned my eyes to Caroline who was looking at me encouragingly, motioning her head in Nadia's direction then pulling her phone out and unlocking it.

I felt my heart pick up speed as if the room around me was closing in closer and closer.

#

 _I stood completely still as I listened out to hear if anyone was around to catch sight of me sneaking out of the house. When no noises came, I cracked the door open and peeked out around the edge of our back door and into the garden. There was nobody there. I smiled to myself, straightening out my new dress before silently slipping out the door and making a run for it to the stables._

 _I was out of breath as I reached the large door, and even more out of breath as I heaven it out of the way, walking inside and heading directly for the end stall. I was alone, but I knew that that wouldn't be the case for too long. It was just after midday, and Andre would be returning from town, having bought this months' supply of horse feed._

 _I grabbed a blanket off of the stall door. A tattered, old horse blanket that Andre and I used to cover the dirty ground whenever we met._

 _I laid it out on the ground and sat down, my large skirts spreading out around me. I fiddled with the sewn-on details on the skirt and listened for his arrival._

 _It was no more than five minutes later when I heard the stable door opening up and the sound of footsteps and hooves walking in. I stayed quiet as he unloaded the horse and tethered it up, just in case he wasn't alone. I sat entirely motionless as I listened to his every movement, watching the sun reflecting off of the straw around me._

 _This particular stall was the perfect meeting place for the two of us. It was the furthest from the front of the stable, hardly ever used for anything other than storage, and at this time of the day the light came in and lit the stall up perfectly._

 _I heard his footsteps walking towards me and my heart hammered faster within my chest. I smiled as he came into view, climbing over the closed stable door and landing softly on his feet. His green eyes shining in the afternoon sun as he stared at me mischievously._

" _Hello, Katerina." He said, sitting down on the blanket and pulling me into his arms. He pressed his lips to mine, kissing me deeply before pulling back to look into my eyes. "How are you, my love?"_

" _I'm well, Andre. Very well now that you are here. How are you? How was your trip into town?"_

 _He pulled me even closer, pressing his lips to my temple, and then letting his lips trail down to my cheek and then to my the hollow of my throat. I smiled, relishing in the feeling of his soft lips on my skin. "My trip into town was rather successful. Brutis was in a haggling sort of mood, but I got the feed for the proper price."_

 _I ran my fingers through his short, dusty blonde hair, pulling his face back so that I could look into his eyes again. He smiled cheekily up at me and I couldn't help but smile in return. I laid myself back on the blanket, pulling him down with me. Looking down at me adoringly, he propped himself up on his elbows._

 _I was mesmerised by his bright green eyes, an abnormality in a town such as ours. Green eyes were considered exotic. It was one of the many reasons that I had fallen for him. His dazzling green eyes burnt into mine, and sucked me right in from the moment that my father had hired him as the stable hand._

" _You are so beautiful." He whispered, leaning in closer to me and tickling my skin with his breath._

" _And you are so handsome." I replied, placing a soft kiss to his jaw. He growled low and pressed his lower waist again mine. I let out a shrill laugh and pulled him the rest of the way down so that he lay all of his weight on my body._

" _How long will you love me?" His voice swam in my head as the sensation of his body on mine took over._

" _Forever." I choked out, as his hands grasped at my many skirts._

" _Forever is a long time, Katerina."_

#

"Katherine." I snapped my head around, meeting Caroline's worried eyes. I looked back to Nadia, whose brows were furrowed as she stared at me. All of the hope in them now gone.

"I…I need some fresh air."

I didn't wait for either of them to respond before I fled from the room and out the front door, not stopping until I passed the tree line. I breathed in shakily, squeezing my eyes closed and forcing back the tears that were threatening to fall. I leant against one of the trees, throwing my hands over my eyes and trying to zero in on only my breathing.

I hadn't thought about Andre this much in centuries. And now that I was around Nadia, it was like in every room that I entered a new memory was popping up to haunt me. Pain stretched through my chest and across my whole body. I pulled at my hair restlessly as I tried to push my mind to forget those green eyes.

"Forever is a long time." I whispered, pushing the thought further into my mind.

"Yes. It is."

My eyes shot open. Nadia was standing in front of me, arms crossed across her chest. I ran my hands through my hair again, trying to straighten myself out so that I didn't look so…broken.

"I said that I needed some air."

"Yes, I got that. But, I thought that I'd come and check that you were still here. I wasn't sure if you'd run or not." She spoke in monotone. Her voice even as she stared at me curiously.

"I promised you that I wouldn't run this time."

"Yes, you did." She said. "But considering how unforthcoming you've been, I wouldn't be surprised if Caroline and I woke up to find you gone."

I winced at her words, knowing that she wasn't too far from the truth. I did prefer to pack up and run when things got tough. But, I wouldn't just run off now. Against all my better judgement, I felt like I was obligated to help Caroline.

And even though I found it difficult to be in around her, I wanted to get to know Nadia.

"I won't run this time."

Scoffing, she flicked her hair over one shoulder. I looked her up and down, still getting used to the similarities between the two of us. I doubt I would ever get used to it. My whole life I had an image in my mind of what my long lost daughter would look like, I never would have guessed the similarities we shared.

"And why should I believe you. Sometimes you act like you can't even stand me. I just don't understand how you could hate me so much."

"It's not that I don't like you. I really do want to get to know you. It's just that, when I'm around you, I can't…"

"You can't what? Stand to be near me?" She asked, hurt coating her voice. "Is that it? If any of my children were still alive, I would jump at the chance to spend some time with them. I wouldn't avoid them."

"It's different for me. You got to meet your children. You got to hold them, and watch them grow. You were torn out of my life, just like your father was, and I can't go through that again. I won't survive it this time." I quickly shut my mouth, straightening up my body as I slipped up, mentioning Andre. Nadia's eyes widened considerably and she took a small step forward.

"You have me now. No one is going to tear me away this time. I promise."

"Do you know how many enemies I've made in my 500 years as a vampire? The list is a very long on, and any one of them people would take our connection and use it against me."

"I don't care about that. What I care about is getting to know the woman I spent the majority of my life searching for. I don't care about the risks. Did you honestly think I didn't know what danger there was when I approached you?"

"You have to understand how hard this is Nadia. You come jumping out of the woodwork, centuries after I thought you had died, and I'm supposed to be okay with that. I've been running from my past for as long as you've been alive, and it's taking all of my strength to slow down and stop. I just need time."

"Fine, I'll give you time." She said, moving to step slowly back in the direction of the house. "But I won't wait forever."

I followed her slowly as we walked back to the house, still breathing heavily after my panic attack. We didn't speak as we made our way past the trees and across the front lawn.


	4. Chapter Four: Down In New Orleans

**A/N: Hello! Long time no upload. I've been busy with a class I'm doing at the moment which is why it's been a few weeks. But here is chapter 4! If couldn't already tell by the chapter title/lyrics below, this chapter is where things start to really happen.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter. If you do, please leave a comment/review! If you have an account and leave a comment I'll be sending you a sneak peak of what to expect in the next chapter!**

CHAPTER FOUR:

' _You wanna do some livin' before you die_

 _Do it down in New Orleans.'_

 _Down in New Orleans from Princess and the Frog._

CAROLINE P.O.V.

Staying in the chair, I watched as both Nadia and Katherine disappeared out of the house, knowing that they needed their privacy to work through the issues they had.

Leaning forward I picked up the cup of tea that Kida had brought in for me, taking a long scolding gulp of the earthy-tasting drink. My mind was still playing over my conversation from earlier with Klaus. I knew it was irresponsible to tell him everything, but I couldn't help it, it was like everything just spilled out of my body the moment he asked me what was wrong.

Obviously I understood why Katherine was upset with me, if I was her I would be too, but it was over and done with now and there was no going back.

 _Vvvvvrrr…vvvrrrrr…vvvvvrrrr…vvvrrrrrr…_

I looked up at the vibrating noise that filled the silence to see Katherine's phone wiggling across the arm of the chair. Sitting still I waiting for Katherine to come running back into the room to answer it. But she didn't. Standing up from my chair, I walked slowly across the room and picked the phone up.

It wasn't surprising to see that it was Elijah's initials lighting up the phone screen. I contemplated going outside and giving the phone to Katherine, but I didn't necessarily want to interrupt whatever was happening between her and Nadia. For all I knew, Katherine could be spilling her entire life story to Nadia in some emotional outburst.

Staring down at the vibrating phone I sighed and tapped 'answer'.

"Hello, this is Katherine's phone. Caroline speaking." I felt blush rise on my cheeks as I mentally slapped myself for sounding so stupid. Of course he knew whose phone it was…he was calling it.

"Oh, hello Miss Forbes. Where, may I ask, is Katherine?" He sounded just as formal as me, and I smiled in relief that I hadn't just made a massive fool of myself.

"She's currently in the middle of an important conversation. She left her phone with me. I can give her a message if you'd like."

He paused. "Yes, that would be okay. I spoke to my brother and he agreed with Katherine's terms. Of course, he has his own conditions for her while she's in New Orleans."

I laughed, of course he did. "I figured he probably would. What are they? Anything too ridiculous?"

"No, he's actually being rather reasonable at the moment. Which, I'm assuming has something to do with your involvement. If it was just Katherine he was dealing with he'd deal out a few death threats, growl, and then call it a day."

Both of us laughed and I'm sure he was picturing Klaus in the same way that I was. "We've all been at the tail end of one of those threats, I think. What does he want Katherine to do?"

"It's fairly straight forward. He wants assurance from Katherine that she won't stir up any trouble while she's here. He also said that if she conspires against him he won't hesitate to torture her before 'killing her slowly and painfully in more ways than she can imagine'. He went into more graphic detail after that, but I think you have an understanding of where it was going."

"Yeah."

"He also requests that you move in here with us, but I told him that that wasn't going to happen. I doubt you'd want to be kept under lock and key for the duration of your time here."

I rolled my eyes and placed a hand on my hip. "You would be correct. I'm perfectly fine where I am. No one is going to hurt me, mainly because no one knows where I am. I'd probably be in more danger if I did live with your family."

"That's what I thought too, but Klaus wanted you to know that the offer stands."

"Thank you, Elijah. I'll keep that in mind."

"What the hell are you doing?" Katherine's voce echoed through the room. Her eyes narrowed as she saw that I was holding her phone in my hand. She stormed over and snatched it from me, lifting it to her ear. "Hello, Elijah."

Nadia looked at me over Katherine's shoulder and shook her head. I just rolled my eyes and moved past Katherine, sitting back in my chair.

Katherine's face was scrunched up as she listened to whatever Elijah was saying. Nadia, who came to sit on the arm of my seat, looked at her, and amused smirk on her face.

"He's scolding her for being rude and snatching the phone from you." She whispered to me, leaning in closer to my ear and smirking widely. "He wants her to apologise to you."

"Sorry for interrupting your conversation with Caroline, but considering that she was on my phone, I believe it was me you were calling to speak to." Her voice was tight and she glared down at me. I picked up my cup from the table and finished off the tea as I waited for Katherine to finish. "I don't care if she was being nice by picking up my phone before you hung up, she shouldn't have been touching my hone. Now, what did Klaus say?"

She placed on hand on her hip and tapped her foot on the ground as she listened intently. Then with a loud huff she pulled the phone away from her ear and pointed an accusatorial finger at me.

"He hung up on me." She said, her voice shrill.

"It's not my fault he hung up. Maybe if you had asked for your phone, instead of snatched it, then he would have stayed on the line longer."

"That's twice in one day he's hung up on me." She growled. "And do you know what he said? He scalded me for being rude. Like I'm a child. Then he told me that he didn't have anything to say, and HUNG UP."

"You are being way too over dramatic, Katherine." I smiled up at her softly. "I didn't want to interrupt whatever you and Nadia were doing, so I answered your phone. It's not that big of a deal. I let him know it wasn't you as soon as I answered the phone, so it's not like I heard anything that was meant for you. And besides," I added, crossing my legs. "I took a message."

#

"I don't understand why we need to go today, why not just wait until tomorrow," I said, rummaging through the set of drawers for a decent change of clothes.

Katherine was in the doorway, watching me as I frantically pulled clothes out all over the place. After I had relayed my conversation with Elijah to Katherine she had gone off to call him back and I had come straight to my room to read. Then, a few minutes ago, she had stormed into my room announcing that we would be driving to the city to visit Klaus. Today.

"We're going today so that Klaus can see that I'm capable of being civil and cooperative." She leant against the door frame and played with her nails while she spoke. "It's not like we have anything else to do this afternoon. We can drive down there, see Klaus, and then we can go out for dinner or something."

"I would have appreciated a little bit of warning. I have nothing to wear." I muttered, pulling a pale yellow sundress out of the pile of clothes I had already dumped on the bed. It would do.

"I didn't realise you needed warning. And what you're wearing is going to be fine. I doubt he's expecting you to be dressed up."

I turned to face her, straightening out the now-crumpled dress before laying out on the bed and then searching for a matching cardigan. I managed to find a plain white one before heading over to the corner of the room where I had dumped the measly amount of shoes that had been packed for me. Continuing to ignore Katherine as I looked for any other bits and pieces I would need in New Orleans.

"I'll leave you to get ready. We leave in ten." I curled my lip up at her as she spun around and strode right into her bedroom across the hall.

I made quick work of getting myself ready, getting dressed, doing my hair, and then adding a little bit of makeup to hide how horrible I looked. I rushed down the stairs once I was ready, ignoring the ache of my back and legs, and met Katherine in the main hall as she was saying goodbye to Nadia.

Katherine looked up at me and smiled. "I see you've gussied yourself up for the big bad wolf."

"Shut up." I hissed as I said goodbye to Nadia and followed Katherine down the front steps of the house to her car. "Don't think I didn't notice that you curled your hair and put more makeup on. Who are _you_ trying to look good for?"

#

I was mesmerised by the beautiful scenic drive to New Orleans. I enjoyed looking out the window and seeing a whole new world of things I had never seen before. It was vastly different compared to what I had seen in Mystic Falls.

Katherine played some more of her quiet, foreign music and didn't speak during the drive, which I figured meant that she was just as anxious as me.

Once we reached the part of the city that contained actual stores I had made Katherine stop at a Target so that I could quickly grab something. She wasn't very happy, but complied anyway, even when I refused to tell her what I was getting.

I made quick work of running into the store and getting exactly what I wanted, not wanting Katherine to be any more annoyed with me than she already was.

One thing I remembered clearly from the night of my graduation, was Klaus telling me why he was staying in New Orleans, besides wanting to return to the one place his family had been truly happy together.

Hayley and the baby.

Of course, when he had told me I felt instant annoyance at the fact he had slept with the backstabbing she-wolf, but the fact that he was going to stick around for the baby and her, rather than killing her and the child, out shadowed my anger towards her.

I could still picture the look on his face as he told me he was going to be a father. And that the fact that Hayley was the mother, he had no feelings towards her whatsoever. I was touched that he had cared enough about my opinion to share a secret like that with me.

I looked across the shelves, trying to find anything that would be a suitable gift to give a pregnant woman who I had a strong dislike for. I ended up finding a small baby grow suit that was a nice shade of purple, and a little toy that looked like a wolf. Grabbing a congratulations card before heading back out to the car.

When I climbed back into the car with the bag Katherine just rolled her eyes at me. "You're seriously buying Hayley Marshall a present? Didn't she sleep with your boyfriend and then break your neck?"

"Yes, she did. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to congratulate her." I said, buckling my seatbelt back up and shoving the presents into the gift bag I had bought. "Besides, it isn't the baby's fault that both of its parents are idiots."

She laughed before pulling back onto the road, going quiet again as we drew closer and closer to the other side of the city. I could tell that we were getting closer because of Katherine's aggressiveness in turning the radio off and then tapping her hands nervously on the steering wheel.

As we began to get further away from the main part of the city I felt my stomach drop and the bubbling of nausea filled my throat. I didn't think it would be this nerve-wracking seeing Klaus again. But, it was different now. I wasn't the same person anymore. Now I was just another human in the world. Someone who could easily blend into the background.

I looked down at my outfit and straightened out my dress some more, picking at a loose thread along the hem. My head shot up as the car started to slow down as it turned up a long, dirt driveway.

It was getting later in the afternoon now and the sun was at a point in the sky that it hit the house in just a way that took my breath away. I gasped at how beautiful it was, knowing that even if I hadn't already known that this belonged to the Mikaelson's, I would have guessed that it was theirs.

Katherine came to a stop next to an over-the-top bright red convertible and turned the ignition off. We both looked up to the front of the house to see the front door open, with Klaus walking out. He looked over at the car and I felt my heart speed up. Katherine groaned as Elijah and Hayley followed Klaus out the door.

She was the first to open her car door and land gracefully on the ground. Taking another deep breath I opened my door, winding as I climbed down from the high car. My muscles pulled and stretched as I landed a little less gracefully on the ground.

"Ouch." I muttered, shutting my eyes and stretching my back to try and stop the pain shooting up my back. I turned back to the car and got my handbag, as well as the gift for Hayley, my stomach twisting in knots.

Closing the door I plastered a smile on my face, walking around the front of the car, following Katherine up the front steps.

Katherine reached the tip before I had even fully passed the row of cars, standing at the top with her hands on her hips. "Long time no see, Klaus." She said, her voice filled with hate I knew to be false confidence.

"It's always such a pleasure, Katherine." He sounded annoyed as he greeted her in return.

I felt his eyes on me I slowly made my way up the steps. I tried to keep the smile on my face as my legs continued to protest my movements. When I reached the top, coming to a stop next to Katherine, I looked up to meet his eyes. A shockwave ran through my body and I had to stop myself from gasping at the feeling that spread through my body. He looked at me with wide eyes for a second and then smirked his trademark smirk.

"Hello, Sweetheart."

"Hello, Klaus." I said cheerfully. Then I pulled my eyes from him and looked at the others on the porch. "Hello Elijah, it's nice to see you again."

He stepped forward, holding out his hand for me to shake. "Likewise, Miss Forbes."

Then I turned to Hayley, who was standing back eying me carefully. I held out the gift bag to her, ignoring the indignant look she gave me. "I got this for you. I thought that considering our past, a little gift would be a nice way to clear the air."

She smiled as she looked down into the bag "Thank you. I haven't been able to get anything for the baby yet, so this means a lot."

Klaus invited us inside the house, leading us to a little lounge area that side to the side of the large entrance. It was awkward as I sat down on the couch next to Katherine, my body relaxing into the soft cushion of the couch.

"So, when's the pup due?" Katherine asked. I groaned, rubbing at my forehead. Of course she make a dog joke. Klaus let out a small growl and a smile pulled at the corner of Hayley's mouth, which surprised me. I elbowed Katherine in the ribs, making her let out a small laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

"We don't know." Hayley said, eying Klaus angrily out of the corner of her eye. " _Someone_ won't let me go and see a doctor. I obviously know the rough timeline of when the nine months is up, but there's no date."

"Nice."

Everything fell into silence and I bit back a giggle at how awkward the tension was in the room. We had driven all the way here to meet with them and now no one was speaking. While I waited for someone to speak up, I looked around the room and took in all the antique furniture and decorations. This house was probably just as old as Nadia's, if not older.

"So," Klaus started from his place against the wall. "How are you feeling now that you're human?"

I turned my head to look at him, trying to decide how I could explain how I felt. He was dressed in his usual Henley shirt and jeans, not having changed one bit since I last saw him.

"I'm doing okay. I mean, it's weird not having the strength, or speed, the amazing hearing, but I'll get used to it. It would have been harder to adjust had I been a vampire for a long time, but I'll be fine." I said, turning my hands over in my lap, wiggling so that I could sink lower into the chair. "The only problem I've had is the muscle pain, but that's probably normal. There's really nothing to compare this situation to."

"You were also unconscious for two weeks." Katherine added, crossing her legs.

Hayley and Elijah's eyes both widened. Klaus obviously hadn't explained the full details of what happened to me. Hayley rested a hand on her small baby bump and leant forward. "How strange. Unconscious for two weeks."

"Yeah, the last thing I remember before waking up halfway to New Orleans in Katherine's car was saying goodbye to Klaus after my graduation." I tried to make it sound as if I was saying something normal, even though this could be one of the strangest conversations I'd ever had. Hayley looked at me, her eyes still wide.

I shot a look to Klaus and found that he was still staring at me from his place next to the window, now having moved since I had last looked up at him.

"You don't remember taking the cure?"

I stopped, looking at Katherine. She shrugged as if to say 'I'm not explaining this one'. I sighed and prepared myself to tell the full story of what happened.

"Elena forced the cure down my throat. Or, well, she tried to force the cure down Katherine's throat, I just got in the way. That's what Katherine told me anyway."

Elijah steeped his fingers in his lap as he let his eyes fall on Katherine for the first time since we had arrived. I felt her tense beside me under his gaze.

"Got in the way?" He asked.

"Katherine and Elena were having an argument…things got physical." Katherine scoffed at my words. "I must have heard them fighting, and I went to break it up. By the time that I reached them Katherine was about to, well that isn't important. I pulled them apart just as Elena was shoving the cure towards Katherine. Then Katherine, who was the only one who was still conscious after everything, took me home to my mum. And that's where I stayed while I was out of it."

They all digested the information in silence, except for Klaus, who kept shooting murderous looks Katherine's way. Unlike the others, I had already told him what had happened in full detail. But Katherine was already in a bad place with Elijah, and I knew that she would probably be angry if I announced she was going to rip Elena's heart out.

Elijah flexed his hands, straightening the cuffs of his suit jacket. "How did you end up travelling with Katherine, if she took you to your mother?"

"The sheriff came to me for help. Caroline had been unconscious for two weeks and she didn't know what to do. She had told everyone Caroline was on a holiday, and she was scared that something had gone wrong in the curing process. I don't know why she came to me, but she appealed to my curiosity of the unknown. And I happen to know a witch that has amazing talents in magical diagnostics."

Klaus stepped forward while Katherine was speaking, moving so that he stood near the arm of the couch where I was sitting. I ignored his continued stares and watched Katherine, who was staring over at Elijah. Only addressing him as she spoke, her eyes never wavering.

"And this witch lives in New Orleans," Klaus said, not asking a question.

"Yes. I was close with her mother, and I'm old friends with her current guardian. All I have to do is make a couple of phone calls and I should be able to go and see her. She'll be able to tell me what the cure did, why Caroline was unconscious, and anything else that happened. I mean, it would suck if someone bit into her and found themselves human. Or, what if the cure didn't completely change her back, she might be some other creature we've never seen before. We don't know what Quetsiah intended when she created the cure for Silas."

"And you're helping because your frozen heart has somehow thawed?" He said, sitting down on the arm of the chair, so close that his arm was brushing mine. I struggled to stop myself from looking up to meet his eyes again, trying to avoid the same feeling that had spread through my body when we were standing out on the porch.

"Very funny. Like I said, Caroline's mum appealed to my curiosity. Not to mention, if Caroline hadn't been there I would be human now instead of her. And who knows where I'd be. Living in a villa in France? Locked up in the Salvatore basement being tortured by the lovely Elena Gilbert? Who knows."

I visibly flinched at Katherine's words. Not because of how harsh her words sounded, but because there was more truth in them than I'd like to admit. The only reason Elena would use the cure as defence rather than fight with her strength was in order to punish Katherine. And that punishment would probably include some sort of torture. That, or they would have handed her to Klaus on a silver platter.

"Anyway, I've never completely hated Caroline. She can be decent when she wants to be. And she's not as dull as the other residents of Mystic Falls."

"Thanks Katherine," I muttered, rubbing my hand on my forehead in frustration. "That means a lot."

"So, what are your plans now that you're here? I know that you obviously want to go and visit this witch, but when can you arrange for that to happen?"

Katherine uncrossed her legs and pulled herself up from the chair, walking past me and Klaus to the window that Klaus had just occupied, overlooking the city. "Well here's the thing. The witch I need to see is under heavy protection at the moment. And it might take a little bit of womanly persuasion to get me in. My problem, before you knew that we were here, was getting in and out without you knowing. But now that you know I'm here there's going to be some…questions about why you haven't killed me yet."

"Marcel's witch." Klaus bit out, moving so that he could now face Katherine more head-on, brushing his arm against me as he went.

"Davina, yes. And I was friends with her mother long before Marcel killed her." Katherine kept facing the window, staring out at the city as she spoke. "Davina was going to be used in a ritualistic sacrifice performed by the coven she was a part of. Marcel stopped it by killing all the witches. And as I said, I can go and see Marcel no problem. But being in the city without Klaus trying to kill me is going to draw some major attention from Marcel. And from what I've heard about your relationship with Marcel at the moment, it's not going to well. So, I was thinking that if you came with me it would show him that you can be somewhat…docile. If he's sees us acting relaxed and civil when you hate my guts, he might lower his guard against you."

"Okay." He said, standing up and holding his hands up in a weird welcoming type of gesture. "When do we go?"


	5. Chapter Five: Seven Wonders

**A/N: Hellllo! Long time, no update. I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last updated, but I've been swamped with school and adulting. I'm allllllmost finished with the Childcare course I'm doing and then I'll have a lot more time to be posting new chapters. I've also had to re-edit some of the chapters because I was unhappy with them. Anywho, we get some answers about the cure in this chapter that I hope you guys will enjoy!**

 **Don't forgot to leave a comment and you'll get a PM with a sneak peak at the next chapter!**

CHAPTER FIVE:

' _So long ago_

 _It's a certain time_

 _It's a certain place'_

 _Seven Wonders by Fleetwood Mac_

KLAUS' P.O.V.

Looking at Caroline as a human was a vastly different experience than I thought that it would be. I had gone into it expecting my feelings for her to be somewhat lessened by seeing her weaker than she always seemed to be. But, that wasn't the case. As she climbed from the car and walked towards me with that stupid 'congratulations' gift bag clutched in her hands, one of her bright smiles plastered across her face, my feelings for her only intensified.

And when those eyes met mine, the feeling grew even more. It felt incredible. Better than breaking my curse. Her eyes turned from mine, and I tried to will her to look back at me, trying to feel that wondrous feeling again.

Then, when I couldn't stand her ignoring me anymore, I had sat down on the arm of the chair so that we would be close enough to touch.

I didn't understand why she was avoiding me, had she not felt the same feeling that I did? Did she think that I would hurt her now that she was human? Did she think that my interest had disappeared? Or even worse, did she see her future with another human?

Shaking those thoughts out of my head, telling myself to stop being an insecure idiot, I picked up my phone and dialled Marcel's number, praying that he would answer me now that the city was really awake.

Not even half a second later I heard the familiar click of the phone being answered. "Hello, old friend. What can I do for you?"

I rolled my eyes at the forced ease in his greeting. He didn't trust me…yet.

"Hello Marcel. An old friend of mine has decided to visit and she was wondering if you could do her a favour." I said, taking a sip from my glass on whiskey as I waited for him to respond.

"Who is it, and what sort of favour?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call her a friend. The only reason her heart isn't clenched in my fist right now is because she's agreed to the conditions I've set for her. She's requesting to see your little witch friend, which she seemed certain you would agree to. However, because of my lack of trust, she wants me to tag along."

Marcel let out a small laugh before turning serious. "Who is this 'she' and how does she even know about my witch?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" I replied, dropping my phone into Katherine's waiting hand. She smiled she placed the phone to her ear.

"Marcel, it's been a while."

"The myth! The legend! Katerina Petrova, what are you doing back in New Orleans? With Klaus of all people!"

Flipping her hair over one shoulder, she rested her hand on her hip and let out a throaty laugh. "I need to see Davina. I have a little problem that I need her help with."

"Then why go to Klaus and not directly to me? You're in my city baby girl, you should know that you're always welcome."

Katherine rolled her eyes and took a sip out of her own glass. I watched her carefully as she began to formulate her spiel. "After recent events between the Mikaelson family and I, I felt it was safer for me to go to him first for permission. I'm actually quite shocked that he let me get this close. I half expected to be tied up in his basement by now."

"Still running, after all this time."

"I doubt I'll ever stop Marcellus."

"And you want him to come with you? Are you sure that that's wise? The information that she has is probably best kept out of his hands."

Katherine looked me up and down. "I think he'll be fine."

She spoke to him for several more minutes, but I tuned her out, looking through the door straight at Caroline. She sat next to Hayley, the both of them looking at the small presents that Caroline had bought for the baby. They were discussing something about gender neutral colours, but that wasn't what I was paying attention to. My attention was on the blonde who had moved from her original spot, so I could now take in all of the perfect details of her face.

Her face lit up as she reached into her bag and removed her phone, tapping rapidly at the screen before showing Hayley. Hey eyes glowed as she spoke, her face the only thing coming into focus as her lips moved in succession. I watched as her eyelids fluttered shut and the echoing of a small laugh hit my ears, like bells tinkling.

"Hey, lover boy." Katherine whispered in my ear. I whipped my head around to glare down at her as she pushed my phone back into my hand. "Just so you know, she likes you too."

"And how would you know that?"

"She spent half an hour choosing what to wear. She was running around like a headless chicken. It was quite funny to watch."

I looked back over at Caroline, who still sat with Hayley, and focused in on the outfit that she wore. My lips turned up slightly at the cute little sundress and cardigan she had chosen. It took her half an hour just to choose what she was going to wear. For me.

"Anyway, if you can peel your eyes away from her, we have to get ready. Marcel wants to do this tonight."

"Okay. What's the plan?"

"Well, he told us to meet him at his club down on Bourbon Street. Then he's going to be leading us to Davina. We're meeting him at six." She looked down at a small silver watch on her wrist. "So, in about three hours. That gives us time to prepare. Why don't you go and swoon over Caroline some more. I'll be outside making a few phone calls."

She strutted past me and straight out the front door. As soon as she disappeared I let my eyes glide back to Caroline. Sighing, I rubbed the back of my neck and took hesitant steps forward.

#

"I don't know when we'll be back, but we shouldn't be gone too long." I said, having dragged Caroline away from everyone else. "Will you be okay to stay here with Elijah and Hayley?"

She met my eyes for the first time since she arrived and smiled. "I'm a big girl, Klaus. I can handle a couple of hours here. I'm sure Hayley and I will talk about some more baby things. You've been depriving her of any kind of proper celebration where this baby is concerned. Pregnant women need to be celebrated…worshipped, and Hayley only got her first baby thing today. From someone she doesn't even like."

I scowled at her crossed arms and angry expression. What right did she have to scold me? "Fine. As soon as everything is sorted out, then I'll buy Hayley a present. How does that sound? But for now I'm going to find out what I can about you."

"Okay." She looked around and then hesitantly let her eyes fall on me again.

"What's wrong, Love?"

"Just…don't do anything stupid if you get bad news tonight."

I leant closer to her, watching her blue eyes dilate. "I promise not to do anything stupid if I don't like what I hear."

"Good. I guess I'll see you later."

I told her goodbye and walked out of the house, meeting Katherine next to my car. We were taking my car, as fact that I insisted upon. Katherine didn't seem to mind when she saw the vintage model I owned. We both climbed in and as I started the car I looked up to the lounge window. Caroline stood there watching us. She gave a small wave when she met my eyes. I just smiled confidently as I shifted the gears and backed my way out of the driveway.

"You have it so bad." Katherine said, checking her makeup in the rear-view mirror. I growled and reached across to put the mirror back in the exact spot it had been in before she moved it.

"I do not."

"Yes you do." She said, punctuating each word. "It's not like it's a bad thing. I think you could be good for each other. She's all about making everyone else happy, and being all nice and moral. Whereas you're cruel, ruthless, and only do things that benefit you. It's the whole opposites attract thing."

"And what about you? Pining after Elijah all afternoon. Giving him puppy dog eyes when you think no one notices."

"I've always cared about Elijah, Klaus. I've never claimed that I don't. In fact, I wanted to go and live with him in France. But, I have this odd habit where I tend to be a sadistic bitch. Believe it or not he's not really into that."

"In other words, he dumped you." She stilled for a moment, her hand reaching down to play with a diamond bracelet that I recognised immediately as being a gift that Elijah had been given by a Grecian queen that he had saved many centuries ago. "Sorry, I'm supposed to be acting civil towards you."

"You were being honest, Klaus. I wouldn't expect anything less." She sighed, looking longingly down at the bracelet. "I'm gonna have to get over it eventually."

I stared back at the road, not bothering with replying, and let the car dissolve into a tense silence.

It didn't take us long to drive through the city to Marcel's club, and when we pulled into a car spot directly on the street outside, I could see that it was already filled. Turning off the ignition and moved to get out of the car, but was stopped short when I saw Katherine glaring straight ahead. Following her gaze and felt my own eyes widen.

Standing just outside of the club was an olive-skinned, dark haired woman who was the spitting image of Katherine. I looked back to Katherine, taking in her locked jaw and tense body.

"A friend of yours?" I asked.

"You could say that." She shoved open the car door and quickly jumped out with me following close behind her. She stormed up onto the pavement and stopped in front of the woman. I thought back to 1492 when I had had her family killed. Everyone within her immediate family had been taken care of, but this woman was surely related to her. Katherine crossed her arms over her chest. "I told you to stay back at the house."

"There's no reason for me to follow your orders, Katherine. I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions. Now, why don't you introduce me? I've never had the pleasure of meeting this particular Mikaelson."

I was taken aback by her thick accent. The rough markings of Bulgaria…or Russia. But considering her resemblance to Katherine, that and the fact that she was wearing the high-end clothes, and oozed self-confidence, I would say that it was definitely Bulgaria.

"Hello, I'm Klaus. It's nice to meet you." I said, holding my hand out for her to shake. She took it confidently and steadily made eye contact. She didn't show any sign of being afraid of me.

"It's nice to meet you too. My name's Nadia Petrova."

Katherine seemed to tense even more, if that possible. "What relation are you to Katherine? I'm trying to figure out who I forgot to kill."

Katherine scowled and shot Nadia a warning look before Nadia opened her mouth. "You wouldn't have known to kill me, or where to find me. I'm Katherine's daughter."

The corner of my lips pulled further up into a smirk. That would definitely explain Katherine's behaviour. I looked between the two of them again, finding it even more obvious that they were mother and daughter. The only clear difference between the two of them were Nadia's green eyes.

"That explains a lot."

"Yes, okay! Now that introductions have been made, Nadia can go back home and we can get on with meeting Marcel." Katherine said.

"I thought I might tag along, actually. It has been a while since I attended Marcel's club. It will be nice to reacquaint myself with some old friends."

Nadia led the way to the door, greeting the bodyguard cheerfully, wrapping her arms around him and kissing both of his cheeks affectionately. They spoke briefly before he let the three of us inside.

It wasn't that hard to find Marcel amongst the crowd. He stood directly in the centre of everyone, dancing with three beautiful women.

Katherine's demeanour changed the deeper we got within the club. Gone were her tense shoulders and guarded features, and here was someone entirely different. Completely carefree. She wore a bright smile on her face as she looked around the room full of vampires dancing and grinding on each other. Still standing close to me, but not acknowledging me, she pushed her way through the crowd to Marcel.

Marcel looked up as we approached, his body still moving against the girls he was entertaining, not making any sort of move to come towards us. Nadia, who had been just ahead of me and Katherine as we dodged our way through the people, leapt forward and wrapped a young blue-eyes man into a bone crushing hug and spoke to him rapidly in Occitan.

"Katerina Petrova." Marcel said, emphasising each syllable of her name. He reached out and grabbed her hands in his, leering at her body as he took her in. "Damn, baby girl. I swear you get sexier each time I see you. Although, I like this hair on you much more than the short cut you had last time. Modern times sure have been good to you, if you exclude the fact that you've suddenly decided to befriend Niklaus, of course."

I rolled my eyes at his words, looking around the room and monitoring everyone present in the club, assessing if there were any threats. The crowd was mostly made up of vampires, however there were a few humans scattered in the mix. Meals.

Katherine let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a full on-the-mouth kiss. "Marcellus, it's been far too long. So much has happened in the past 50 years."

Marcel's attention moved from her to me, and his smile faltered as he watched me. "Nik, old friend. You are entirely too uptight. It's a party."

I didn't make a move to change my posture, just raised a brow at him and smirked. "I'm not here to party Marcel, maybe another time. I'm here to make sure that Katherine is behaving."

"Ahh, yes. It was very strange seeing the two of you walking across the room together. Very strange indeed. But, anyway, you must have a drink before we head off. I insist. You can't come to a party without having at least one drink." He led us through the crowd to the bar and ordered us three bourbons. Marcel drank his down in one swift gulp, whereas both Katherine and I took hesitant sips of ours.

"So, what caused you to show Katherine some leniency? It's not like you, Nik?"

"He pitied me because his idiot brother turned me down." Katherine said, having to shout over the blare of the music to have us hear her clearly. She smiled at Marcel and gave him a wink. "But, being turned down once doesn't mean that I won't try again."

"The poor man. I don't think he's capable of acting like anything other than a robot. The man needs to loosen up."

"He can be loose when he wants to be." Katherine leaned even closer to Marcel, whispering directly into his ear. "Why do you think I keep trying?"

We finished our drink and Marcel gestured for us to follow him to the back of the club, where we were quickly joined by Nadia. She and Marcel greeted each other affectionately, which piqued my curiosity of her even more, then we exited the club and walked the back streets towards an old church building.

We all stayed quiet while we made our way down the streets, not wanting to draw any attention to ourselves, and when we reached the church Marcel started to tell us his guidelines for seeing the witch.

"Now, as Katherine knows, Davina is still only 16 years old, she's a child. So I don't want any violence or threats being thrown around. I also don't want you to put any pressure on her if she can't tell you what it is that you want to know. Got it?"

We all nodded in agreement, my gut clenching at the thought of going to a child for help. He opened the large door to the desolate church, and led us past the rows of pews out into the back of the building, then up three flights of creaky stairs to the attic. We stopped in front of a worn door, breathing in I could smell the sealing spell that was placed on it. Marcel knocked twice, stepped back, and waited for the door to be opened.

Seconds passed and then the door swung open to reveal a small, puppy-faced brunette sitting down on a stool in front of an easel drawing eagerly. She smiled a wide tooth-filled smile as she saw us standing in the doorway. Pushing the easel to the side, she came running right into Katherine's arms.

"Aunty Kate, it's so good to see you." She said, hugging Katherine while holding her arms out so that the charcoal that covered them wouldn't smudge on Katherine's clothes. She stepped back and looked cautiously at both Nadia and myself, before looking at Marcel. "I never get visitors."

"Well, Katherine asked nicely if she could come and visit her goddaughter, and I couldn't exactly refuse. Even when she wanted to bring some friends with her."

Davina held her hand out to Nadia first, greeting her by name before she had even been told who she was. Then she turned to me, studying me carefully before holding out her hand. I smiled at her and took her hand, shocked by the tightness in her grip.

"I know why you're here." She turned back into the room, sitting down at her easel and motioned for us to take a seat.

Marcel entered the room first, followed by Katherine and Nadia, then me. We all sat down, Marcel and Katherine taking the small bed in the corner, and then Nadia and I taking a chair each. Davina went straight back to her drawing, and I took in the other pictures that were covering the walls and ceiling. Each one messily taped up on display.

My eyes stopped when they landed on one drawing, the sketch clear and messy at the same time, showing me sitting down and holding a small bundle in my arms. My chest tightened as I forced my eyes away to look at other pictures. One showed Hayley with the professor that had lead everyone to Silas, another showed Marcel killing the witch that had used her magic that first night that I had arrived in the city.

I turned my eyes to Davina who was now watching me silently.

"You're an excellent artist." I said, shifting forward in my seat. "Are all your pictures premonitions?"

"I'm not an artist." She said, doing a couple more lines on the paper that was resting in front of her. "I see something in my mind and then my body wills me to draw it. Some of them come true, some of them change. But, I suppose you could say that they all tell the future."

"Your magic has definitely grown since the last time I saw you Davina." I looked over at Katherine, whose eyes were focused on a small sketch that hung on the roof. An embarrassed flush filled Davina's cheeks. The drawing depicted Katherine and Elijah in the throws of something I didn't really want to see.

"It's always growing. I don't really have control of what I see. I just see it."

"So, can you help us with what we want to know? You said you knew why we're here, so you must know something about it." Katherine met Davina's eyes, completely unashamed of what the young girl had seen.

"Yes and no. It's complicated. I know that Caroline was indeed cured of vampirism. But, I also know that she isn't exactly a human either. There's more to her than meets the eye."

I searched the walls for anything else familiar, anyone that I knew. There were several showing me and my siblings, but it was of things that had already happened, nothing that looked new. And there were none that showed Caroline.

"I know that since her recent transformation her body has needed to adjust to being human again, that's why she was unconscious for so long. Her body had to adapt and age appropriately."

"Age appropriately?" Nadia asked, from her spot next to me.

"The cure would change the person back into their human state, but their body needs to be caught up with itself. It can't pick up where it left off because the person is technically older than what they were when they initially turned. For instance, if Klaus had taken the cure, like many people wanted, then he would have stayed unconscious until his body was prepared to age. Then he would have woken up and over the next two weeks his body would turn into dust, because he's 1000 years old." She paused, grabbing a new stick of charcoal from the packet that sat on a small table next to her. "Whereas Caroline woke up and her body will go through only slight physical changes so that she's up to date…so to speak."

"So if I had taken the cure then I would have died?" Katherine asked, fidgeting in her chair and looking incredibly uncomfortable. I watched Marcel taking everything in from the bed. We hadn't told him about the cure, and I would have preferred to keep it that way, but it was too late now.

"Yep, you would have started to age rapidly. Wrinkles, grey hair, teeth falling out, declining health, _then_ you would drop dead and your skin and flesh would most likely turn to ash. It's actually quite lucky that someone so young was cured, she'll suffer very little backlash from it."

"That's good." Katherine said, looking over at me reassuringly.

"What did you mean when you said that there was something else going on with her?" I asked.

She looked confused for a second and then scribbled on her page for a few moments. "That's the thing. I know there's something else about her, but I don't know what it means. I mean, there's just this one word that I keep seeing, but I can't find the definition anywhere. And my visions usually tell the future, but I know that this is something from the past. I've been wracking my brain for weeks trying to figure it out, and the only thing that I can conclude is that it's something very ancient that kicked in once Caroline was cured. Something that is specific to her, and wouldn't have happened had anyone else taken the cure."

My senses lit up and both Katherine and I leant forward, staring at Davina with wide eyes.

"What word?"

Davina put down the charcoal she was holding and shifted the easel so that we could see what she had been drawing. We both gasped at the now-finished piece that rested there. My brain spun as I took in the drawing, immediately understanding what it was that Davina had been seeing. Remembering stories that my mother had told me and my siblings when we were children.

The drawing was of Caroline's face, so beautiful and bright, but her eyes were different. They were unlike anything I had ever seen before. They had some of the characteristics of vampire and hybrid eyes. The veins beneath them and the dilation of the pupil. But there was just something more human about them. Katherine and I looked at each other, my face falling as she looked at me in wonder.

"The word is something like 'la-nee-ah-me-tie' or 'loo-nee-ah-me-tee'."


	6. Chapter Six: Get Along

**A/N: Hellllllo! Thank you so much for the positive reviews, I'm glad you guys liked the chapter! This chapter is a bit of a filler chapter, introducing some story that's gonna be important/is going to happen later on in the story. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review and I will send a sneak peek from the next chapter via PM/DM!**

CHAPTER SIX:

' _Get along, on down the road_

 _We've got a long long way to go_

 _Scared to live, scared to die_

 _We ain't perfect but we try.'_

 _Get Along by Kenny Chesney._

KLAUS' P.O.V.

I was not prepared for what Davina had revealed to us. The whole drive back to the house I had stared out the windscreen in shock, with Katherine sitting quietly in the passenger seat beside me.

We had spoken briefly to Davina before we had said goodbye, having gotten as much information as she had for us, leaving the young girl behind in the church. Marcel had asked a series of questions on the short walk back to his club and luckily Katherine had been prepared to answer each of them while still avoiding direct details about who Caroline was to me, and what exactly 'luniamiti' was.

It was clear to tell that Nadia hadn't recognised the term either, but she had had the curtesy not to ask.

My brain was completely shell-shocked by what Davina had said. Of course, I had sensed something was different between Caroline and I. Things had started to noticeably change when I was on my way back to New Orleans after her graduation…after she had had the cure shoved down her throat. And that feeling had only intensified the moment I saw her in Katherine's car. But I had never even thought that this was a possibility.

"Are you okay?" Katherine said meekly, looking over at me. I closed my eyes and mentally growled at myself to focus.

"Yes."

She smiled softly, knowing that I was lying through my teeth. Even I wasn't convinced by my own words, which made me reconsider my want to keep this whole situation a secret. As the driveway drew closer, my chest grew tighter and tighter and I was glad that Katherine had decided to keep quiet once again.

Pulling the car to a stop I yanked the key from the ignition, but neither of us moved for a couple of minutes. Then she unbuckled her seat belt and faced me, opening her mouth and then shutting it again, reaching for the car door and opening it.

"I don't want Caroline to know about this just yet. I want to find the best way to tell her."

"All you need to remember is that this isn't a bad thing Klaus."

#

CAROLINE'S P.O.V.

Watching Elijah out of the corner of my eyes, Hayley and I rummaged through the sketches and plans that were spread across the table. He looked like he was uncomfortable in his three piece suit, sitting and reading in a chair that was positioned in the corner of the room. I had wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I knew that either way he was too much of a gentleman to claim that he was anything but comfortable. Especially since he was playing guard to Hayley and I.

Looking back down at the notes and plans that we had laid out, I tried to organise them all within my mind. As soon as Katherine and Klaus had pulled out of the driveway I had asked Hayley what she was doing for a baby shower, and she had told me that if Klaus didn't want her seeing doctor, then he sure as hell didn't want her to throw a party. I shrugged that off and opened the Google browser on my phone, not accepting the fact that Hayley was giving up on having a celebration just because Klaus was a tyrant.

So we spent an hour or so mapping out all kinds of details for a small, family oriented, baby shower. Just something really small, because I knew that Klaus would never go for anything big and grand.

It was fun to slip back into something that I was comfortable with doing. Having been the one to head all of the dance committees in Mystic Falls, it was comforting to sink back into the relaxing process of organising and researching products and decorations. It helped balance out the stress of not knowing what was happening with Katherine's witch.

My head shot up as I heard the approaching sound of heels on the hardwood floor, expecting to see Katherine walking back into the room, but instead seeing Rebekah. She smiled tightly at me and the both of us eyed each other up.

She was dressed the same way that she was usually dressed, in a pair of jeans and a nice blouse, her blonde hair hanging loose. She stopped in the doorway, looking at her brother, then Hayley, neither of which bothered to look up at her arrival.

"Hello Rebekah." I said, forcing myself to be civil as I sat up straighter. She returned my fake smile, arms crossed over her chest as she leant on the doorframe.

"Caroline." She nodded her head in acknowledgement. "What are you two doing?" She stepped further into the room, looking down at the papers littered around in front of us. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the designs and lists. Her attitude immediately perked up. "Ooh, a baby shower."

She sat down opposite us and picked up a random piece of paper, reading it over and then reaching for a pen to add something down.

"Yeah, Hayley told me that Klaus was being a spoil sport about the baby, so I thought that a little celebration would get everyone excited."

She picked up another sheet of notes and flipped through them, asking questions as she went. We fell into a quick routine of paper shuffling, note taking, and discussion. While Elijah ignored the three of us, still only interested in his book.

This routine wasn't broken for another half an hour when both Rebekah and Elijah's heads shot up and looked towards the front door. A moment later it swung open and Katherine strutted her way in. She raised her brow at the scene in front of her and flipped her hair over her shoulder as she came to a stop in front of the coffee table.

Looking down at us speculatively, she picked up one of the pieces of paper and looked it over before placing it back down and heading towards the window. She looked out into the driveway, and then turned to stare at me. The worry was evident on her face, and I felt my heart sink into my stomach. What was wrong? Were the effects of the cure worse that we thought?

Minutes later Klaus walked into the house, closing the door softly behind him. Elijah, who hadn't looked back down at his book, stood up and walked towards his brother. I watched as Klaus scanned the room and then focused on me. He looked just as troubled as Katherine, making my stomach sink even further.

"What is that on my coffee table?" He said, looking at the three of us surrounding by the mass of papers.

"Caroline is going to throw me a small baby shower." Hayley said, sitting her phone, and the list she had been writing, down on the table. "Just a little something so that we can all share a nice memory of the pregnancy."

Klaus blinked, staring at Hayley's smiling face. "Is she now?"

I smiled up at him innocently. "Well, every woman deserves to have a baby shower. And considering that you don't want everyone knowing that you're having a baby, I thought that this could be a cute idea." I placed my things down on the table as well, happy with my justifications. "It's nothing like the usual size of my parties, but it's been fun to get back into the swing of things. What happened with the witch?"

Klaus grew tense at my question, looking between Katherine and I. The expression on his face was unreadable, and that didn't make me feel any better.

"Well," Katherine started, stepping forward. "The bad news is that you're going to die."

Everyone's head turned to look at her as tears sprang to my eyes and fell down my cheeks. Die? The cure was going to kill me? How long did I have? Would I get the chance to say goodbye to everyone I loved?

"The good news," she continued, "is that it won't be for another seventy plus years."

Growling, I threw a cushion from the couch and flinging it towards her, luckily hitting her. She laughed at her own little twisted joke, probably hoping that it would lighten the mood, but Klaus still looked troubled.

Looking between, I stood up from the couch and crossing my arms. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It just came as a shock." He said, smiling what was clearly a forced smile.

I walked forward, past Rebekah and Hayley, stopping directly in front of him and looked into his eyes, feeling the shocking jolt run across my skin and into the pit of my stomach. "What came as a shock? Because Katherine just said that I'm fine."

"Yes, you are fine." Katherine said, rolling her eyes at Klaus. "The thing is, we found out that if anyone as old as us had taken the cure then we would have rapidly aged…and then died within a couple of weeks. With you, your body just has to catch up a short amount of time. But for someone like Rebekah, for instance, then she would already be halfway to grandma by now. It was kind of shocking to hear how close anyone could have been to death."

From Katherine's explanation, I didn't think that it had anything to do with Klaus, but I didn't push him any farther, noticing the darkness within his eyes. Something had definitely shocked him tonight, that was for sure, but it didn't have to do with the fact that the cure could have killed any of them.

"Fine." I gave Klaus one last look before turning around and falling onto the couch, crossing my legs on the chair and picking my phone back up, continuing through the list of shops nearby that stocked the supplied that we would need. Hayley's attention slowly turned back to her previous notes as well, realising that we weren't going to get anything else from them.

Klaus shifted in my peripheral, the tension in his shoulders slowly falling away when he realised he wouldn't be questioned more. Elijah stood up in the corner and excused himself, picking up his book and heading directly for the exit, probably glad to get away from the mess that Hayley, Rebekah and I had made. Klaus crossed the room and reached for an empty bourbon glass that sat on the top of a table on the other side of the room.

"The most shocking thing," he started, pouring himself a drink. "Was finding out that Katherine's daughter is alive. Quite an interesting little tidbit."

Everybody in the room stopped short, their eyes moving to Katherine, who was standing with her hands on her hips. She shrugged slightly, storming up to the bar and snatching Klaus' drink straight out of his hands.

"You all knew that the Petrova bloodline survived somehow, Elena is evidence of that. Why is it so shocking that I happened to have a daughter?"

Elijah, who had been mid-step when Klaus had blurted out Katherine's secret, stopped and was watching Katherine with an unreadable look on his face. His brows furrowed slightly and he shook his shoulders as if to straighten himself out.

"Katherine, a word." He said, turning back around and keeping on walking out of the room. Katherine shoved the glass back into Klaus' still-hovering hand and then rushed out after Elijah.

Returning back to my notes, focusing on a website that made custom banners for any occasion, not paying attention to the fact that everyone in the room had their eyes trained on me, waiting for some kind of explanation.

The sloshing sound of liquid filled the room as Klaus poured himself another drink and then his footsteps echoed as he moved across the floor.

"You knew that Katherine's daughter was alive." Klaus whispered, his voice directly in my ear, his breath spreading over the bare skin of my shoulder and neck, making the hairs stand up. I didn't react to his close proximity, but when he didn't move straight away I could feel myself growing more uncomfortable.

Looking up I slammed my notes down on the coffee table. "I found out when we arrived in New Orleans. Nadia had been kind enough to let us stay with her while we're here. All I know, apart from who she is, is that Katherine found out about her not that long ago and didn't react well to the news that Nadia was alive and breathing."

Klaus straightened up, smirking as he walked over to the window with his bourbon on hand. He leant back against the window and kept his eyes on me. I made sure to look anywhere but at him. Hayley was trying to make herself comfortable next to me, whereas Rebekah had an incredulous look on her face.

"What?"

"Nadia? Is her full name Nadia Dubois, by any chance?" She asked, strained as she found to gain control of her features.

"I don't know. She only introduced herself as Nadia Petrova. She could have another name, I suppose. Why?"

Rebekah seemed to grow even more uncomfortable, wiggling in her chair and looking back down at a random piece of paper on the edge of the table. "No reason. I just…when I was in Prague recently I met someone called Nadia and she looked a lot like Katherine. You'd think they were twins if it wasn't for her-"

"Green eyes." Klaus said, finishing her sentence as he looked down at his little sister.

"Oh yeah, that's definitely Katherine's daughter. I thought they were sisters when I met her. It was kind of unnerving. She had a thick accent too." I added.

Rebekah's face paled and she looked as though she was going to be sick. Klaus let out a deep chuckle and Hayley and I looked between the two of them. Rebekah's cheeks turned a light shade of pink and she quickly stood up, excusing herself as she ran from the room.

"What's her problem?" Hayley asked, turning to Klaus who was still standing at the window laughing.

"It would seem that my sister is more than acquainted with Katherine's daughter." He said still, chuckling.

Hayley and I looked at each other and I bit my cheek to stop the giggle from rising up and escaping. Hayley didn't have much luck, letting out a sharp laugh. We all chuckled a bit more before Klaus stood up and came to sit across from us where Rebekah had been sitting. He leant forward and reached out for one of the lists on the table. Without hesitating I slapped his hand away, causing a small growl to rise up in his throat.

He looked at me sharply and I just glared back. "These aren't for you to look at. You can just wait and see what we plan."

"It's not that big, Klaus." Hayley muttered. "It's just something small. The only reason that there are so many notes is because Caroline likes to be thorough."

I could see the disappointment in Hayley's face as she waited for Klaus to forbid it, which I wouldn't let happen. I raised one eyebrow at him, challenging him to dare question me.

"Fine. As long as it's a _small_ party, and Caroline doesn't invite the whole city. I've been to a couple of parties that you've planned, Sweetheart, and there was absolutely nothing small about them."

Rolling my eyes, I began to stack up the papers into relevant piles. "I understand that you want to keep the baby a secret, Klaus. I'm not stupid."

"I never said you were." He said, voice gentle.

There was silence in the room again as Klaus and I looked across at each other. The silence was broken by Hayley as she abruptly stood up from the couch, making both Klaus and I jump slightly.

"I'll leave you two to talk for a little bit. I'm tired anyway."

Sighing, I watched her run from the room. It was barely 8:30. Placing the papers into one big pile, ordering them by importance and level of difficulty, I attempted not to notice that Klaus didn't take his eyes off of me. He offered no comment as I reached into my bag and pulled out a small pencil case that I always kept in there. It had always been essential for me to keep the little pencil case there in the event that anything like this came up, because I was one of the people that had to be prepared for any scenario that could possibly occur.

"Thank you." He said, making me look up at him. He had a small smile on his face, but his eyes were sad.

"What for?"

"Giving this to her. I didn't ask for any of this, and I don't know how to handle her. But, I care about her wellbeing and the wellbeing of the baby. I know that she's miserable being stuck here with Elijah and myself, so it means a lot to me that you would put past your hatred of her in order to plan this party."

His honesty caused me to smile brightly. He looked more serious now than I think I had ever seen before, making my heart constrict at the thought of how much he truly cared about all of the people around him.

Warmth spread through my body as our eyes remained locked.

"It's okay. I didn't want to come here and fight about stuff that's in the past. I'm sick of all of the fighting. I just want some down time so that everything in my life can return to some semblance of normalcy."

He flinched at my words, his voice growing tense as he spoke. "Do you know what you're going to do now that you're human again?"

Joining all of the papers using paperclips, I closed my eyes and breathed out a sigh, running my hands over my face. "That's a hard question for me to answer. I'll probably take a bit of a break before I go back to school. Grow accustomed to being a human again. Then I'll get a degree in business, build a career. The same sort of thing I could be doing if I was still a vampire. It's just that this decision is going to a serious life-long career choice rather than something that's in the moment."

"Are you glad that you were the one who was cured?"

The pain in his eyes intensified with his question, and everything made sense. The way he had acted when they had arrived back here, and how worried he had been since I told him about being cured. He was afraid of me being human. Afraid of all of the time that he had lost with me. He was hurting just as much as I was.

"Honestly…no." I laughed, pushing a loose curl of hair behind my ear. "I was a horrible person before I was turned. I was a narcissistic bitch who only did things for herself. I had no sense of anything other than being the pretty blonde doormat who got to lead the cheerleading squad. But when I turned it was like I was given a chance to be more. It was like the universe was saying to me that I could be more than the small town girl I had assumed I would always be."

Pausing I took a deep ragged breath as I remembered life before vampires had entered it. The constant fear of not being good enough, the attempts to get my mum's attention, throwing myself at guys so that I could feel even a little bit wanted.

"I hated life before being turned. I was lonely and shallow. I'm afraid that I'll let all of that stuff happen to me again. Afraid that the people who hurt me before will sense some weakness in me and now, and hurt me again."

"You're anything but weak, Caroline." Klaus said, moving so fast I almost missed it, and came to sit next to me. Placing his hand on my knee. "And you'll never get treated like that again. Because even though you aren't a vampire anymore, and you don't have all the nice perks of being supernatural, you've grown stronger and more aware of the world around you. You won't let yourself become who you were again."

Neither of us moved as we gazed into each other eyes. A part of me wanted him to kiss me so bad, but I was glad when he didn't and the moment had past, with him rubbing soothing circles on my thigh.

The sweet moment between us was broken by the clicking of heels on the stairs and then the reappearance of a very clearly dishevelled Katherine entering the room. Klaus let his hand fall from my knee, standing up from the couch and heading to the window again. Katherine studied us carefully, straightening her hair and her clothes as she came to a stop.

"Are you ready to get going? It's getting late and you probably still haven't eaten, so we'll have to get food on the way back to Nadia's."


	7. Chapter Seven: Strangers Like Me

**A/N: It has been a hot minute since I worked on this story. Lack of motivation, work, and an all-around feeling that I can't write good at all. Anyway, I had a random burst of motivation to work on the story, so I'm rolling with it and gonna try and edit as much as possible before the steam runs out.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, leave a review to let me know what you guys thought!**

CHAPTER SEVEN:

' _I want to know, can you show me_

 _I want to know about the strangers like me.'_

 _Strangers like me by Phil Collins._

CAROLINE'S P.O.V.

In the days following Klaus and Katherine's visit to see the witch things had taken a worrying turn. At first Klaus had appeared to be worried about the fact that I was human again, and although I thought that that might be a part of it, there was a definitely something else there. Something that he was keeping from me.

In that time I had been watching everyone closely to see if I could pick up on what, or why, they were keeping from me. They had told me that everything was fine, yet every time I walked into a room where both Katherine and Klaus were alone, or where Katherine and Nadia were alone, the conversations would stop and their stares would press against me.

Laying down on my bed, trying to find some comfort in the soft Egyptian cotton blankets, I stared up at the ornate gold light fitting that hung from the ceiling directly above me. I wasn't really seeing the light, but moreso was scanning over my latest ridiculous theiries as to what the big secret could be. Would my vampiric bloodlust somehow return, making me need to drink blood to stay sane? Would I rapidly age and drop dead as if I was as a rotted corpse?

Sighing, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and cringed at the tight pull of the muscles up my back. Bright light coated everything in the room and I sat up taking in the way that it glinted off of every surface, counting down from twenty in my head and then pushing myself towards the edge of the bed, letting my legs fall over the side. They hit the cold floorboards and I counted down again, trying to build up to the action that would cause my muscles to spasm and shoot out pain, and then placed weight onto my feet as I came to stand, wincing.

I stumbled across the room, picking up my slippers from in the corner and slipping them on my feet. Maybe I could find some kind of exercise, or yoga that would help with my back issues.

Looking at myself in the vanity mirror, my hair was unruly and bits of hair stuck up in all directions. The bags underneath my eyes were prominent against my pale skin. I stepped forward and tried to make myself presentable for lunch, pulling my hair into a tight ponytail and then adding a light layer of foundation and concealer.

Walking down the long hallway to the main entryway stairs I thought over the way that Katherine and Nadia had been acting, and silently prayed that today at lunch they could at least act normal. Last night at dinner I had interrupted a whispered conversation and they shot apart and both made ridiculous excuses, Katherine muttering something about wolves under her breath.

And I knew that the reason for all the secrecy was because Klaus had asked them to. I wasn't stupid. He had probably made some sort of threat, which made it incredibly difficult to get them to give it up to me. I had one last resort, which was to ask Kida is she knew anything about it, but her loyalty to Nadia would probably prevent her revealing what she knew.

Stepping down from the last step and instead of heading towards the dining room, I went in the opposite direction, heading for what I hoped was the kitchen. I had seen Kida disappear behind these doors several times and I knew that it was either the kitchen or where her room was, so either way I would hopefully find her.

The doorhandle was cold against the palm of my hand as I turned it and pushed the heavy wooden door open to reveal the pleasant herbal scent that seemed to follow Kida wherever she went.

Kida was standing behind a large island bench and was in the middle of putting lunch together, spreading butter onto bread while something was cooking on the antique fire-powered stove. Her white hair was pulled back by another one of her colourful bandanas, and the sun that was coming through the window seemed to glow off of her skin.

She looked up at me as I walked into the room, smiling knowingly as she put the knife down next to the butter tray. The look she sent my way gave me the feeling that she had been expecting me.

"Hello, Caroline." She said, her words rolling off her tongue in a thick drawl.

Smiling in return, I walked further into the room, sitting on one of the stools that was next to the island. She turned to the frying pan, where some sort of meat was frying, and grabbed a spatula and began to flip the meat over.

"Hello, Kida. How are you?"

"I am well. What is it that you wanted to see me for?"

"Why the assumption that I want something?" I said, sitting up straight in the chair, trying to ease some of the tension in my back that was slowly spreading to my shoulders. I would need to go and find some painkillers after lunch.

Kida pursed her lips as she watched me, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a small masom jar that was filled with what looked like small dark green peas. She twisted the lid, grabbing two of them out and holding them out for me to take from her. Holding them in the palm of my hand I could see that they weren't peas, but some sort of plant or herb that had been crushed up and rolled into a small ball.

"Their herbal pain relievers. Homemade. They'll help with your back." She explained, opening up the oven door and pulling out an oven tray that held some halved tomatoes slightly roasted. I took a deep breath in through my nose, and delighted in the fresh calming aroma of the tomatoes. "And, I can tell when someone wants something from me. I'm a hard person to keep secrets from."

I placed the tablets in my mouth and struggled to swallow them down with my dry throat, feeling my muscles relax almost instantly. Of course Kida would know that I was here for something. From what I could gather, Nadia's resident caretaker was either a witch, or she grew up among them. Neither was very clear because Nadia was just as good as her mother at keeping secrets.

"It's about the night that Katherine and Klaus saw the witch. They told me that I'm fine. Perfectly human. But ever since that night, everyone has been acting really weird around me. Like there's this massive secret that they can't tell me. I was just wondering if there was anything that you could tell me about it."

Kida started to place the tomatoes on the plates, looking down at the food with full concentration. "I cannot tell you before you are destined to know. What I can say is that you need not worry about it being something bad. The stars have aligned and made everything so, and therefore it will be what it is."

I stared at her with an open mouth, trying to make some sense out of what she had just said. When nothing came out, I smiled and thanked her for her advice, even though I was more confused now than I had been before. Walking out of the kitchen, leaving the delicious smell behind, I headed straight for the dining room.

I halted mid-step outside the door as I heard Katherine speaking rapidly.

"She's not stupid Klaus. She knows that we're keeping it from her. The sooner that you tell her the better." She paused for a moment, listening to the reply that I didn't have the power to hear anymore. I stayed as still and as silent as possible, not wanting to tip her off that I was just outside the door. "I'm not going to tell her, I'm saying that you should tell her. Now. I know Caroline, and the longer this is kept from her, the angrier she's bound to get. And from the stories I've heard about the Luniamiti, it isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's supposed to be this rare, magnificent, natural occurrence."

I listened for a little bit longer, rolling the foreign word around in my head. I had never heard that word before, but the moment she said it tingles ran from my scalp down to my neck and back. Katherine didn't mention the word again, and as the argument continued I knew that I was going to have to interrupt sooner rather than later, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping by Kida.

I took several steps back and made sure that as I approached the door again that my footfalls were loud, pulling the door open and hiding that I had heard anything. Katherine quickly hung up her phone, not even bothering to say goodbye to Klaus.

"What have you been up to?" She asked, picking up a glass of blood and taking a long sip. A part of me gagged at the thick liquid that sloshed around in the glass.

"I've been in the kitchen with Kida. I was asking her if she could tell me what you're hiding, but the only think I got was some gibberish about me finding when the time right." I plopped down opposite from Katherine and waited patiently for Kida to bring in lunch. Instead of eating lunch, all I really wanted to do was to head straight up to my bedroom and google the word I had overheard Katherine say to Klaus.

Luniamiti. If I could just find out what that word meant, then I would know exactly what they had been hiding from me.

The door pushed open and in walked Nadia, followed by Kida who was pushing a tray of steaming plates. She placed the plates down in front of each of us, the corner of her plump lips edging up as her eyes met mine. She motioned to Katherine with her eyes and then her smile disappeared and she returned to the indifferent demeanour she usually wore. Had she known that I would overhear Katherine on the phone to Klaus? Did she know that I would hear that word? I smiled at her and thanked her for the food, digging into my lunch.

I didn't engage in conversation, twisting my conversation with Kida around in my mind. That and all of the possibilities of what exactly 'luniamiti' was. Katherine and Nadia, instead of trying to talk to me, discussed about what I assumed they thought was a dull topic…ancient politics.

I'm sure to them, the people who had lived through what they were discussing, it was dull. But to someone who had been alive less than 20 years, hearing two people discuss George Washington and Alexander Hamilton I was kind of riveted

"I'm telling you, Katherine, Angelica and Hamilton did not have an affair. I was friends with Angie at the time. Yes, it was popular belief that there was more going on, and there kind of was in an intellectual way, but they were never physical." Nadia argued, taking a bite from the deconstructed sandwich that Kida had put together. "Trust me, Angie was too loyal to Eliza to do anything with Hamilton."

"I'm telling you, I knew Hamilton. There was more there than met the eyes. They were together at some point. The way she mourned him. The way he spoke about her. They were more than in-laws. Not to mention Hamilton would have slept with any woman who complimented his political standpoint."

After lunch I was quick to excuse myself, hurrying through the house to my room, locking myself in. I grabbed my phone, a notebook and pen, and sat down on my bed. I sounded out the word that Katherine had used and wrote down several ways that it could spelled, entering each one into the google search and finding…nothing. It just kept coming up with completely unrelated word searches and topics. I highly doubted Klaus and Katherine were discussing moon phases or a European restaurant.

It was an hour later that I came to the conclusion that my search wasn't going to give me any reliable information. I stopped, exited the web browser, placed my phone on the bed, and placed my head in my hands, hunching my body forward as I tried to think of what to do next.

Rubbing my hands against my eyes until I saw little flecks of light behind my eyelids, I sighed counted the options in my head.

I could confront Katherine, Nadia, or Klaus with what I had heard, and make one of them tell me what she knew. I could continue my Google search and hope to find something that was actually related to something supernatural. Or I could try and find someone who knew a lot about supernatural lore. Someone who might be able to give me some insight.

My head shot up and I smiled to myself as the realisation hit me. Elena had told me that Bonnie resurrected both Jeremy and Alaric. Surely Alaric would know something. And even if he didn't, he would know someone who did.

Reaching for my phone, climbing off the bed and pacing across the rug as I tried to locate Alaric's number in my phone. I prayed that he still had the same phone, I didn't want to have to explain to Elena why I needed Alaric's number. It was going to bad enough explaining to Alaric why I needed the information from him in the first place.

I was relieved when I didn't get the automated voicemail message, but instead I heard the familiar click of the phone being answered followed by a gravelly voice. "Hello?"

"Hey, Alaric. It's Caroline." I said kicking at the rug.

"Caroline? It's…nice to hear from, I was told you were on holiday."

Forming an explanation in my head, I played with my sleeve. I needed something to explain how I came by the word. "Yeah, I am. I needed a break from Mystic Falls drama. Do some soul searching, you know?"

"I wish I could so that at the moment." He grumbled, his vice strained. "When I was brought back the fact that I was a vampire didn't change, so I'm trying to get a hand on controlling that before I stray too far from Mystic Falls."

"Wow. I didn't even think about it like that. I just assumed you'd be a human again…I actually called because I have a supernatural history question for you. On my trip I've been looking up some old texts and I came across this word that I can't figure out. I've Googled, as well as looked deeper into the text where I found it, but I can't find an explanation anywhere."

He appeared to perk up, his voice loosening up as I heard rustling in the background. "Sure, I'll try and help. What's the word?"

"Luniamiti."

Silence followed and all I could hear was some faint rustling as he moved around. "I've heard of that word before. Give me a moment and I'll find the book it was in."

I waited as he put the phone down. I walked back over to my bed, sitting on the edge, admiring the warmth of the sun on my skin. I looked down at my notebook and picked up my pen, doodling on the corner of the page as I waited for him to pick the phone back up.

"Where was it that you said you heard this word?"

I hesitated before answering, trying to come up with a believable lie. "I was reading an old text with this witch I met. She translated most of it, but we couldn't translate this section, it was in some old indecipherable language, but luniamiti was written down on the bottom of the page, so I assumed that it was important."

"You were right. The book that I have mentions an old legend and describes the word that you found. It says that the phrase comes from Europe, but it also says that the legends origin is as old as the Ancient Greeks. Luniamiti isn't the proper term for it, the original term roughly translates to 'soul mated'. It's related to the mating of werewolves. Werewolves usually mate with another werewolf. It's how they keep things within the pack. However, this story says that sometimes a rare occurrence will happen and a powerful alpha will mate with a human. It's how they cleanse the pack and bring outside blood into the line of wolves. It helps prevent imbreeding." He paused for a moment, his words followed by the shuffling of pages. Soul mated. Werewolves. Alpha…Klaus. "It doesn't go into much more detail than that, but it references a few side effects of the mating. You know what, I'd love to get my hands on that text you found. If I could translate it there might be some more detailed information."

My mind was still reeling over what he had just said. Mated to a human. That would definitely explain the way that Klaus had been acting around me, and how he didn't want me to know what had happened with the witch.

"I'll talk to this friend and see if they can get the text to you." I stopped, looking at the trees outside the window, knowing that I couldn't promise him the text because it didn't even exist. "But nothing is guaranteed. Thank you for giving me that information. I need to go."

I hung up the phone, heart beating wildly in my chest. My mind slowly wrapped itself around what he had said, then the anger set in.

Klaus had no right to keep this from me. No right at all.


	8. Chapter Eight: Secrets

**A/N: Another chapter in the same day! Not much editing had to happen to this chapter in order to make it ready to read. I love this chapter because THE DRAMA! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it (and rereading it as I edited it).**

CHAPTER EIGHT:

' _Sick of all the insincere_

 _I'm gonna give all my secrets away.'_

 _Secrets by One Republic._

CAROLINE'S P.O.V.

Throwing my phone down on the bed, I slammed open the bedroom door and stormed through the house to find Katherine. My blood was boiling. I could feel the heat in face as I made my way through the hallway and down the stairs, my hands shaking as I opened the dining room door to find both Katherine and Nadia still debating on old presidents. They both looked up as I bustled into the room, glaring down at them.

I pointed my finger accusingly at Katherine, and she stared up at me from her chair, wide eyed and confused by my sudden reappearance.

"How dare you?" I yelled, pointing my finger in her face.

"What have I done now?" She asked, shifting so that she could look up at me better.

"Not you specifically. You. Plural. How dare you guys keep this from me? I have every right to know that Klaus and I have somehow become mated."

Katherine's eyes widened even further and her mouth opened slightly, looking almost like something from a cartoon. She looked at Nadia, and Nadia just shrugged back at her.

"How do you know about that? No one was supposed to tell you." Her words confirmed exactly what Alaric had told me and my heart beat even faster.

"So it is true! I am mated to Klaus. Why wouldn't you tell me something like that? I have every right to know. I thought that you were keeping something horrible from me. Like my impending doom. I was scared. But now I'm just royally fucking pissed off."

Katherine stood up from her hair, holding her hands up in front of her. "Look, it was Klaus' decision not to tell you. He made us all promise. He wanted to find the best way to tell you about it."

I squared my jaw and placed my hands on my hips. "So, Klaus decided that I shouldn't know? He's the one that decided to hide something that is going to dictate the rest of my life? Of course he bloody is." I curled my lip and narrowed my eyes. "You're driving me to see him. Now. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

I spun on my feet and stormed back up the stairs, stopping halfway and calling back to Katherine. "And don't even think about calling him. I want him nice and surprised when I kick his ass."

Grabbing my phone off of the edge of the bed, I slipped my shoes on, and threw on my hoodie, not even caring how I looked. I met Katherine and Nadia in the entrance, Katherine ordering Nadia to stay there as we climbed into the car. I was glad that Katherine decided to speed her way through the city, the speed making my anger seem to grow rather than fade.

Neither of us spoke during the drive, I just sat staring out the window, chewing the inside of my cheek and ringing my hands together. The tension in the car increased with every mile we drove, and I could tell that Katherine was excited to see what I did.

It didn't take us long to pull into the long driveway next to all of the expensive cars, and I barely let the car stop before I jumped out and started towards the front of the house.

I didn't even make it to the top of the stairs before Elijah opened the door, staring at me curiously as I pushed past him and stormed into the house. I looked around the front rooms, not seeing Klaus anywhere.

When the final room came up empty I opened my mouth and screamed out. "Klaus, you dog. Get your ass down here now!"

A second later Klaus appeared in front of me looking slightly dishevelled and slightly amused. He wore his trademark smirk as he took in my less than perfect appearance. When our eyes met the smirk faltered and he looked past me to where Katherine had just entered, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Hello Sweetheart, I wasn't expecting to see you today." He said, keeping his voice pleasant.

"Don't you dare even think about 'sweetheart'ing me. I am so beyond angry at you. How _dare_ you keep this from me? It's my life and I deserve to know when something as monumental as this happens."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He switched his weight from one foot to another, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"Yes you do, you…urgh! I can't even find the proper words to insult you with." I threw my hands up into the air and then reached across the space between us to push hard against his chest, which happened to be a horrible idea. A shockwave of electricity ran through my hands and up my arms. It almost made me forget what made me so angry at him. Almost. Looking into his eyes I saw that they had softened at my touch. "Don't even think about looking down at me like that. How the hell can you justify not telling me that some weird wolf-thing made you mate with me? Did it ever occur to you that that was something I should maybe know? Or did you expect me not to notice what was going on around me? I am not an idiot."

His jaw tenses as I spoke and his eyes lifted from mine to glare over my shoulder.

"Katherine didn't have to tell me anything, Klaus. I'm smart enough to figure it out on my own. The only person you should be angry with is yourself. I can't even comprehend how stupid and selfish you are." I was panting and out of breath as I finished my long spiel, still glaring up at him. "So, what do you have to say for yourself? Huh?"

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish before words actually made their way out, his hard voice turning soft. "I was waiting for the right time to tell you."

"The right time?" I screamed. "The right time would have been the moment that you found out. The night that you sat down all cosy next to me and asked me about my future. _That_ was the right time. I had to eavesdrop on cryptic conversations and then lie to a friend in order to find out what was going on. As you can probably imagine, it came as quite a shock."

"Well maybe you should have minded your own business and waited until I was ready." He yelled back, stepping towards me, his face darkening with each word.

I gasped, readying myself to slap him across the face, but was stopped by Katherine stepping between us. "Woah. You two need to calm down."

Moving away from Klaus, I continued to stare at him angrily. He stepped back too, but his gaze softened as he looked at me. I was close to snapping out of the trance of madness that I was under, but I pushed myself to remember that he had kept this secret from me for days. And it wasn't a small white lie that wouldn't affect my life. It was something that would have an impact on every day of the rest of my life.

"Now. Yes, Klaus was a dick for not telling you right away. Yes, he's an ass. _But_ I don't think screaming at each other is going to solve anything. So, why don't we all just calm down and-"

"What's going on now?" Rebekah said from the front door. I turned to look at her, taking in the tall, tanned man that she was accompanied by.

Katherine looked up, opening her mouth to shoot a snarky retort back at Rebekah, but froze, staring directly at the handsome stranger. His eyes landed on her and they grew wide. Something in her completely changed. Her face turned an unhealthy shade of grey and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Caroline and I were just having a small domestic." Klaus said, stepping forward. He walked past Katherine and I and headed towards his sister, shaking the man's hand enthusiastically. An enthusiasm that wasn't shared with the man. He quickly dropped Klaus' hand and looked back at Katherine. "Andre, old friend. What are you doing down in New Orleans?"

I turned my attention back to Katherine as she took a hesitant step forward, one hand coming up to her necklace, the other one covering her mouth. I could see Elijah looking between the two of them as well, watching their reactions to one another.

"I'm just passing through. I ran into Rebekah at a bar and she told me you guys were staying here for a while." He said, his words coated in a light accent. "It's nice to see that you and your remaining siblings are getting along. I was sorry to hear about Finn and Kol, my condolences."

Katherine seemed to snap out of her catatonic state and it was quickly replaced with rage. Rage like I had never seen it before. Katherine's eyes immediately grew veiny and red, her teeth elongating as she hissed. Everyone in the room tensed and I took an instinctual step away from her, knowing that one wrong move and I would get snapped in two. Rebekah's eyes widened as she looked between Andre and Katherine for the first time since she arrived at the house. Elijah was the only one who dared a step towards Katherine, edging closer to her without trying to make it seem obvious.

Within a split second Katherine had lunged towards Andre and tackled him through the front door, and down the porch steps. Klaus and Elijah jumped into action and ran after them, leaving the rest of us standing there in shock. Had that just happened? I had seen Katherine do a number of horrible things before, I had been on the receiving end of some of those horrible things, but she had never lost control and attacked someone like that.

I rushed forward to see what was happening, watching Klaus and Elijah as they tried to pull Katherine off of Andre. He didn't seem to be fighting back, just taking hit after hit as she sent them his way. She was screaming in what was probably Bulgarian.

Klaus managed to break her vice-like grip on Andre's shirt and him and Elijah scooped her up into their arms and pulled back.

Klaus handed her over to Elijah and reached to help Andre stand back up, whose once neat hair was now mussed as he tried to straighten out his dishevelled clothes. He stood, reassuring Klaus that he was okay, while Katherine continued to scream at him.

Elijah carried a struggling Katherine up the front steps and towards the front door where I stood. I stepped aside to let them through. As they went passed I looked over at Andre as he started to climb he steps. He was watching Katherine disappear inside, his eyes flickering to mine.

My breath caught in my throat as I took in the brilliant emerald green eyes that bore into my blue ones.

A sudden noise behind me told me that Katherine had broken loose, and I quickly moved further inside as she stormed out the front door, her blood-soaked hands clenched into fists at her side, Elijah following at her heels.

"You slimy son of a bitch. How could you?" She yelled, pulling her arms out of Elijah's grip. "I love you. I _mourned_ you for _years_. And you've been gallivanting around this whole fucking time, like you left nothing behind."

I stared wide eyed as the strong and powerful woman I knew seemed to break apart in front of me. Her rage made the anger that I had felt earlier seem like a happy greeting, but as the tears started to fall down her cheeks I knew that whatever this man had done to Katherine had to have been significant for it to warrant this sort of reaction. And for what I guessed was the first time in a long time, Katherine fell to the ground and wept. "I lost everything because of you. I sacrificed so much for you, and you've been alive this whole time."


	9. Chapter Nine: Couldn't Believe

**A/N:** **Here's the next chapter. This is kind-of a filler chapter. But it gives some background that I really enjoyed creating and writing.**

 **I hope you all enjoy!**

CHAPTER NINE:

' _And I couldn't believe my eyes_

 _I couldn't believe my ears_

 _I couldn't believe my luck_

 _I couldn't believe you're here.'_

 _Couldn't Believe by Broods._

KATHERINE'S P.O.V.

I couldn't believe that he was here. Actually here. Alive. That he had left me.

My heart was beating wildly in my chest, and I could feel my head pounding at the implication of what this meant. What him being here meant for everything that had happened in my past.

He stared down me, his face blank, not even showing any remorse for what he had done to me. I looked over his tanned skin and mousy hair, then I looked into his eyes. The eyes that mirrored Nadia's so perfectly.

Nadia. I let my mind go to her and the time we had spent together since Caroline and I had come to New Orleans. I was glad she had stayed back at her house.

I needed to get out of here. I couldn't bring myself to be civil when all I wanted to do was rip his throat out with my teeth. I closed my eyes for a moment, letting my vampire features fade back into my skin, wiping at the tears that stained my cheeks. Then I shook my head, trying to find some sense of clarity.

I opened them again and straightened myself out. I would not let myself be humiliated by him again. Without another word to anyone I sped from the property, closely followed by Elijah, and ran to the closest bar I could find.

I ignored all of Elijah's pleas as I ordered myself two drinks, gulping them down like they were air as soon as they hit the bench in front of me. I ordered another two, sipping at them more slowly this time.

He stared at me in the mirror that sat behind the bar, but I just continued to sip my drink ignoring that he was even there.

The first man I had ever loved. The man I had given my _everything_ to, and lost everything because, he was alive. Not only was he alive, but he was a vampire. And considering he didn't look a day older than the last time I had seen him, I would guess he had been turned at the same time I had thought he had died.

Elijah placed her hand gently on my arm and I looked into his eyes through the reflection in the mirror. He sought out my eyes in the mirror, locking mine in place, pity and confusing reading out clearly.

#

 _I felt like I was going to throw up again, but I fought to hold it down as my father spoke over out meal. My stomach rolled and churned dangerously at the smell of the roasted boar that wafted up from the centre of the table and into my nose. I turned my eyes to the dark grounds, trying to let my mind wander until the nausea passed._

 _Many a meal had been spoilt in the past few weeks with the constant string of nausea. I suspected what the cause of my illness was, but I didn't dare speak of it. I didn't dark so anything, lest it be true. The longer I kept my sickness to myself, the better._

 _I looked up as my younger sister placed her hand on my arm. She looked at me worriedly, and my eyes scanned their way around the table I realised that my mother and father were doing the same._

" _Are you feeling okay Katerina?" My mother said, standing from her chair and touching her hand to my forehead._

" _I feel slightly under the weather, but I will be okay."_

 _My mother accepted my excuse and sat back down in her chair. My father, however, leered down at me from across the table. I shifted under his scrutiny, and took a large bite of the greasy chunk of meat on my plate, trying to convince everyone, including myself, that I was fine._

 _The bitter taste tolled across the inside of my mouth, the grease coating my tongue and teeth and sticking to the roof of my mouth like moist bread. I chewed the thick flesh between my teeth, trying to seem nonchalant. I chewed as my father continued to watch me, trying to force myself to swallow down the foul taste._

 _Swallowing down the mouthful of food, my throat protested as I tried to push the food down. I reached immediately for my goblet and drank a long swig of the rich mead._

 _That turned out to be an even worse idea, because as soon as the secondary flavour met with the remnant of the greasy boar, my stomach churned and heaved. I pushed myself up from the chair, sending the chair to the floor as I ran from the house. I stopped not too far from the door, keeling over and emptying the contents of my stomach onto the cool ground._

 _When the heaving sensation stopped, I stood up from the ground, wiping at my mouth as I tried to fix up my skirts. I turned to re-enter the house, only to find the door blocked by my father as he loomed in the doorway._

" _In the lounge. Now."_

 _I followed behind him and into the lounge, sitting down in one of the empty chairs. My mother through the room and came to sit on the chair next to me, looking wholly flustered. My father didn't sit down in the other chair, but instead he stood next to the fireplace and stared into the raging fire._

 _When he turned to look at me I quickly looked down into my lap, not wanting to meet his eyes. There was still a small chance that he hadn't clued onto my indiscretion. There was still a chance that I wasn't in the family way. No matter how small that chance was, it was still there._

" _What do you have to say for yourself, Katerina?" He growled, stepping forward._

" _Papa, it isn't…"_

 _Whack!_

 _My face swung to the side with the force of his hand connecting with my cheek. I cried out at the pain that shot through me, tears welling up in my eyes. I grabbed my face and turned to look back up at him. He stood over me, a burning anger filling his face. He swung his hand back and hit me again, the force sending me out of the chair._

 _My mama started to protest, standing from her own chair, but she quickly sat back down when she met my father's eyes. I stayed where I was on the ground, not braving facing him head-on._

 _His hand gripped my wrist, sending shockwaves up my arm as he wrenched me to my feet. I steadied myself as he let go, stumbling slightly as pain still radiated from my face and arm. I couldn't see through my tears as they flowed freely down my face._

" _How could you Katerina?" He said, taking hold of my wrist once again in a vice grip. "You're better than this. You know better than to throw your body and the reputation of this family around. You had and abundance of potential as someone's future wife, and you go and ruin yourself with some useless boy."_

 _I sobbed at the clear disappointment in his words. He was right. I had ruined my life._

 _#_

 _I felt at my stomach through the layers of my dress, caressing the swollen lump that protruded visibly from my stomach. I smiled down at my hand, feeling the small life shifting and pushing against the strained skin._

 _I lifted my head up to look at the sky, feeling the warmth of the sun seeping into my skin. I let my eyes fall closed against the light and breathed in the clear afternoon air. When I opened my again I continued my walk across the garden, picking some flowers as I went and held them in my hand. I was in the final stages of my child baring, and any day now I would give birth to our son or daughter. The thought sent love coursing through my chest. In a matter of weeks, or even days, I would be a mother. And I would be a wife._

 _After my papa's violent reaction to my indiscretion, he had ordered that Andre and I marry as soon as my papa taught him how to be more than the stable boy he was. Andre, as someone who was considered to be below my station, didn't have the type of upbringing that would make him a 'decent husband', so my father was training him in the family business._

 _In just a few days we would marry, and we would be able to have the life we had wanted, our own special forever._

 _I rounded the far side of the garden and slowly made my way past the stables towards the house. I stopped at the sight of the carriage coming up the road from the direction of town, meaning my papa and Andre were back. I sped up my walking, as much as I could with the added weight I was carrying, eager to spend some time with Andre before nightfall._

 _The carriage came to a stop near the front door of the house and I gripped the small bunch of flowers in my hand as my papa opened the door and stepped down, shutting it behind him. I looked past him and into the carriage through the window, but Andre wasn't there._

 _I felt my eyebrows furrow as I looked over my father, taking in his rumpled clothes, small spatters of blood staining his pants._

" _Where is Andre, Papa?" I asked, stepping forward with one hand resting comfortably on my stomach._

 _He looked down as me sadly as he walked to the front door of our home, removing his thick coat as he walked. I followed closely behind him as he hung up the coat and headed through the house into the kitchen where my mama and sister were making bread._

" _Tell me where he is Papa." I said, standing beside him as he grabbed a goblet of mead and drank it down._

" _Where is who?" Mama asked, turning around from the bench and looking at my papa and me curiously, her hand resting on her hip._

" _Andre." I replied, pulling out a seat and setting myself uncomfortably into it. "He didn't come back from town with Papa."_

 _Papa drank down the rest of his mead before turning to me, sadness in his eyes. My heart started to hammer in my chest. What had happened? Was the blood on the bottom of my Papa's pants Andre's?_

 _He reached across and grabbed my hand gently. "I am truly sorry Katerina."_

 _Tears sprang to my eyes and I leapt up from my spot on the chair, searing pain shooting through my hips and stomach. "Sorry for what? What happened to him, Papa?"_

" _There was an accident in town."_

 _I backed away from him, not wanting to hear whatever it was that my Papa was going to say. "No."_

" _Someone didn't tether up their horses properly, and then there was something that set off a loud noise. Andre went to go and help calm the horses down before they could run off, but he was knocked off of his feet."_

" _No." I whispered again, my voice coming out as silent as a prayer. I stepped further back, knowing exactly what my father was going to say next._

 _He stood up from his own chair and made his way towards me slowly as I continued to back up from him. "There was nothing that could have been done to save him Katerina."_

" _No." I said, repeating it sternly. I didn't believe him. I couldn't believe him. Andre was an expert with horses, he wouldn't go rushing into an unsafe situation where they were concerned unless he_ knew _he could fix it. He wouldn't have endangered himself when he knew that he had me to come home to. "I don't believe you."_

" _I was there Katerina. I saw it happen with my own eyes."_


End file.
